Several runners from schools in Franklin County competed in the AHSAA State Cross Country Championships, held at the Oakville Indian Mounds Cross Country Course, on Saturday.
On the girls’ side the top finisher from the local area was Belgreen High School junior Briseyda Luna, who finished in eighth place in the Class 1A-2A championship event. Luna ran the 5k course in 21:21.12.
Phil Campbell’s Avery Wells, a seventh-grader, was the lone Bobcat that competed in the championships on the girls’ side. In the Class 3A race Wells placed 45th with a time of 23:59.63.
Russellville’s girls’ cross country team, which had the most competitors, fielded 10 runners. The Golden Tigers finished seventh out of 13 teams with an average 5k time of 23:11.89 and a total time of 1:55:59.41. RHS’ top finisher was senior Esbeidy Jiminez, who ended in 33rd with a time of 21:52.18. Russellville’s other competitors in Class 5A’s field of 127 were sophomore Maribel Martin (53rd, 22:45.07), freshman Heidy Jacobo (64th, 23:04.62), junior Arielle Cooper (77th, 23:59.55), junior Rosa Castro (80th, 24:17.99), junior Daimar Valdez (88th, 24:38.06), junior Miranda Gutierrez (90th, 24:42.04), seventh-grader Kristel Jimenez (91st, 24:42.18), freshman Maricela Felix (94th, 25:00.19), and senior Jessenia Mateo (100th, 25:49.28).
In the boys’ state meet, in Class 1A-2A, Tharptown’s Angel Garcia had the best finish among local runners. Garcia, a senior, finished 11th in the 5k race with a time of 17:44.37. Along with fellow Wildcat runners senior Frank Gutierrez (68th, 19:59.88), junior Daniel Jimenez (75th, 20:10.82), sophomore Melvin Gutierrez (93rd, 20:51.63), junior Giancarlo Espinoza (98th, 21:01.57), and freshman Zach Riley (100th, 21:05.04), Tharptown took 12th place out of 16 teams with an average 5k time of 19:57.66 and a total time of 1:39:48.27.
In the Class 5A boys’ meet, Russellville fielded nine competitors as the Golden Tigers placed 11th out of 16 teams with an average time of 18:20.49 and a total time of 1:31:42.43. The top finisher for the RHS boys was sophomore German Perez, who came in 33rd with a time of 17:15.11. Behind Perez were junior Connor Evans (44th, 17:44.18), junior Connor McFall (86th, 18:51.38), freshman Jonathan Manzo (89th, 18:54.70), junior Isais Jose (90th, 18:57.06), senior Ricardo Gutierrez (104th, 19:28.52), eighth-grader Ezequiel Mateo (112th, 19:36.06), seventh-grader Bryan Torres (115th, 19:39.26), and senior Uriel Mojica (128th, 20:18.36).
Full results from the 2024 AHSAA Boys' and Girls' State Cross Country Championships can be viewed HERE.
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