XC: Madison boys, NS girls win region titles
To many, cross country is a sport built around the individual and how well a person runs in an individual race.
But the Madison boys’ team proved cross country is a team sport as the Mustangs repeated as the Region 8 A-AA champion at Union University on Thursday.
The Mustangs finished with a team score of 63 with the fourth-place finish by senior Jackson McLemore, seventh-place finish by junior Trey Borgognoni, 15th-place finish by junior Brandon King, 17th-place finish by senior Nick Bezold and 20th-place finish by sophomore Daijon Jones.
“People thought that we would be down with the five runners that we lost last year,” McLemore said. “We proved that we are still the best, still the champion. We have great coaching, and there is something special at Madison.”
But that 63 tied Covington, so the tiebreaker went to the finish of the sixth runner. Madison had that well in hand as sophomore Reagan Vintzel finished 21st and senior Kane King finished 22nd.
“Cross country is such a team sport,” McLemore said. “I am proud of all of the guys. It took every one of us to win this race.”
McLemore had the lead midway through the race, but Covington senior Jhon-Wes Walker went on to win.
The season-long battle between Walker and Jackson Christian senior Logan Riddle continued as Walker won the region title over Riddle by 16 seconds.
“It has been back-and-forth this year with Jhon-Wes,” Riddle said. “We both sat back and reserved a little early, and when the time was appropriate, we made our move.”
Riddle finished with a time of 17:35.30.
“You always want first, but knowing the competition, I can’t be disappointed with second,” Riddle said.
Madison, Covington and Mitchell will represent the region at the state meet on Nov. 5 along with Riddle, MAHS sophomore Joshua Jones, Power Center Academy seniors Antony Love and Larry McNary, Trinity Christian Academy junior Miles Northcut and Scotts Hill sophomore Jacob Feehan.
TCA senior Brynne Lytle hasn’t run a cross country race all season, but she ran in the region meet and had little trouble in winning her fifth straight region title by 28 seconds.
“I have been running before soccer practice each day, and about halfway through the soccer season, my dad said I should run to help me stay in shape,” Lytle said. “The team wanted me to run also to help them get to state. I haven’t been racing, but I have been training, so I came in with the mindset to run as hard as I could.”
Lytle (21:28.82) took her lead early and had kept a good distance out front.
“Usually as a runner, you have to train harder through the years because girls’ bodies develop, so it is special to maintain the top spot for five years,” Lytle said.
Madison junior Wells Johnstone finished second with a time of 21:56.92.
For the first time in recent history, North Side won the team event with a score of 48, beating Covington’s 49.
North Side senior Valeria Lopez led the Lady Indians with a fifth-place finish with a time of 22:46.45.
“It feels great to win the region title, and we have worked hard to win,” Lopez said. “We worked as a team.”
Senior Karine Ramirez finished 10th, senior Kayley Drummond finished 12th, Yacenia Santos finished 13th and Kathryn Hayes finished 15th.
North Side, Covington and TCA will represent the region at the state meet along with Johnstone, Madison sophomore Mariah Lien, Middle College sophomore Candace McCowan and Jackson Christian sophomore Cassidy Cooper.
• Division II-A: USJ girls are back in the Division II-A state meet after finishing fourth in the region meet on Thursday in Memphis.
Senior Kayla Puzdrakiewicz finished sixth overall, and junior Anjali Mahajan finished eighth.
“I am proud of the girls team getting back to state because we are young, and we only have six runners on the team,” USJ coach Arthur Priddy said.
The USJ boys finished fifth, missing out on a berth in the state cross country meet.
“The boys looked good and ran well as a pack, but they just weren’t with the lead pack,” Priddy said.
Michael Odom, 425-9754