Arab rules Marshall County cross country meet

The Arab Knights dominated the 2013 Marshall County cross country meet, sweeping all four championships.

Boaz High School served as host of the Oct. 22 meet.

The Arab varsity boys won their fifth consecutive title by a wide margin. The Knights collected 31 points to runner-up Albertville’s 65.

Boaz took third with 70 points, followed by Guntersville with 92, Douglas with 102, Asbury with 183 and Brindlee Mountain with 184.

Avery Rainwater of Arab was the boys individual champion with a time of 17 minutes, 47 seconds.

Arab also dominated the varsity girls division, finishing with 23 points to runner-up Albertville’s 61.

Boaz came in third with 75. Douglas was fourth with 80, followed by Guntersville with 124, DAR with 153 and Asbury with 175.

The Knights have won four of the last five girls championships.

Arab’s Shelley King was the top girls finisher with a time of 21:10.

In the varsity divisions, the top 10 boys and girls earned All-Marshall County.

The all-county boys runners were:

1. Rainwater, Arab

2. Conner McClendon, Arab, 17:48

3. Zach Kennedy, Albertville, 17:58

4. Sergio Zavala, Albertville, 18:08

5. Jacob Meredith, Guntersville, 18:12

6. Marshall Carter, Arab, 18:17

7. CJ Williams, Boaz, 18:36

8. Seth Emmenegger, Guntersville, 18:41

9. Salim Chacon, Albertville, 18:52

10. Trevor Hardin, Arab, 18:55

The all-county girls runners were:

1. King, Arab

2. Yendi Vazquez, Albertville, 21:19

3. Destini Vance, Arab, 21:37

4. Rachel Onks, Arab, 21:43

5. Hannah Pratt, Albertville, 21:49

6. Caroline Bruce, Guntersville, 22:16

7. Paige Townsend, Arab, 22:44

8. Emily Tanner, Arab, 22:55

9. Emma Clark, Boaz, 23:00

10. Hayley White, Boaz, 23:04

The JV divisions featured only two teams — Arab and Albertville.

Arab scored 21 points to the Aggies’ 35 to win the boys division.

In the girls division, Arab claimed first with 21 points. Albertville scored 34.

The top 10 JV boys finishers were:

1. Chase Buckelew, Arab, 11:27

2. John Danford, Arab, 12:14

3. Nathaniel Duncan, Albertville, 12:47

4. Riley Edmonson, Arab, 12:50

5. Mace Schneekloth, Arab, 12:56

6. Evan Henderson, Albertville, 13:21

7. Emmanuel Villalovos, Albertville, 13:22

8. Parker McCoy, Guntersville, 13:23

9. Skyler Switzer, Guntersville, 13:24

10. Brock Wordlaw, Albertville, 13:54

The top 10 JV girls finishers were:

1. Madison Anderson, Arab, 13:15

2. Taylor Maze, Arab, 13:18

3. Haley Benefield, Arab, 16:04

4. Maggie Corbitt, Albertville, 16:05

5. Angie Ochoa, Albertville, 16:06

6. Elizabeth Soriano, Albertville, 16:08

7. Julieanne Black, Guntersville, 17:23

8. Tiffany Dowdy, Arab, 17:32

9. Jae Sidwell, Arab, 17:33

10. McCall Roe, Albertville, 17:52

“I’m pleased with our course,” said Boaz head coach Anthony Clark, who was meet director.

“There were several people who worked very hard to make this successful. “(Boaz) Mayor (Tim) Walker, his wife, Michelle, (Boaz) Fire Chief (Mike) Sparks and just the city of Boaz jumping in. Of course, we had great support from (Boaz Superintendent) Dr. (Mark) Isley and (BHS Principal) Mr. (Gary) Minnick.

“I was really pleased with what we were able to do today, and hopefully this is going to lead to us having an invitational here in the future.

“We were third in boys and girls, right there behind Albertville in both of those. Everybody’s kind of chasing Arab.

“(Coach) Emily Stapler does a great job. Her kids are running strong and peaking at the right time.

“I hope our city will kind of catch fire with what we’re trying to do here at the school, and also at the city level with running in general, and get people excited about running.”

Kira Russell, who has been the Boaz girls’ No. 1 runner throughout the year, missed the county meet with an injury.

“I thought our girls did a great job of stepping up,” Clark said.

“We’ve had some young girls, some seventh- and eighth-graders, who had to step up a little bit, and they ran as hard as they could possibly run, and they’re just young. They’re still learning.

“I’m pleased with Hayley and Emma both getting in the top 10.

“We had one guy, CJ Williams, who ran an 18:36.

“That’s encouraging from a program standpoint, that we’ve got kids turning in some good times. Most of them are pushing themselves and working real hard.

“I think we’ve got a promising future.”

Boaz’s Marlena Ramirez finished 11th in the girls race with a 23:16.

For the BHS boys, Frankie Miguel was 13th with a 19:12 and Tyler Dobbins 14th with a 19:22.