Dorothy’s ruby red slippers wouldn’t have lasted an hour on Cullman’s soggy campus Saturday morning, but that didn’t stop the Black and Gold from sharing the same sentiment as the Kansan cutie who made them so famous.

There’s no place like home.

After spending almost all of the fall outside city limits, Cullman was finally able to move its prep work for the sectional and state meets to more familiar territory. The Class 6A cross country program didn’t disappoint, either, sweeping the large-school titles at its annual Bearcat Invitational.

Kyle Norris and Joey Franklin secured the top two spots in the boys race, and Marisa Franklin snagged third in the girls 5K to bolster the Black and Gold’s team triumphs. Franklin finished only behind Leahrose Mami and Jaden Edge from St. Bernard, which claimed both small-school crowns.

Norris was simply on a playing field of his own, pulling away early to complete the three-mile trek in 16:56, a full 1:01 ahead of Franklin. Teammates Tucker Adkison (18:15), Walker Caretti (18:22) and Tucker Franey (18:41) didn’t leave much space between them in sixth, seventh and ninth, respectively.

“We just didn’t want to come out and have another team beat us on our home course,” Norris said.

As usual, the senior was more stoked about the Bearcats’ collective successes than his own individual accolades. Norris said he was pleasantly surprised Franklin rose to the team’s No. 2 position and glad to have J.D. Warner back following a nagging knee injury. Warner (19:35) eased to 18th — right behind Will Kress (19:19) — in his first competition of the fall.

Franklin flashed her signature senior leadership with a 21:05 run for the Black and Gold girls best time. Hillary Crider (22:39) coasted to seventh, Lexy Sivley (22:58) landed in 10th, Rachael Collins (23:37) crossed the line in 13th and Kendall Adkison (23:50) captured 14th.

Coach Trent Dean had his reasons for keeping Cullman off campus so long to open the season. He not only wanted to see how the ’Cats stacked up against some of the state’s top 6A and 7A contenders but get a feel for a few race courses, such as Scottsboro, their sectional site, and Spain Park, the potential future location of the state meet.

Saturday’s invitational didn’t feature huge fields, which was just fine with Dean. He was actually hoping for smaller races so his runners would be better prepared for the sectional stage. Times are important, but they certainly aren’t the only factor the coach cares about as the campaign enters the home stretch.

“Success late in the season is about finishing places and position,” Dean said. “This race really helps emphasize that because they know I’ve got to match up and I’ve got to put myself in this position in order to put my team in position to win.

“You can go out and race Chickasaw (Trails) well and yeah, that means you’re running fast, but it also puts you where you’re vulnerable to some positional or tactical errors that you can make in a smaller race. They’ve got to learn those things, especially since we’ve got a lot of youth.”

St. Bernard’s girls could teach a lot of squads a lesson or two the way they’ve ran this season.

Mami’s and Edge’s 1-2 times of 20:51 and 21:02 sent the Saints well on their way to an insane seventh consecutive title. Ayleana Mami (22:00), Katelyn Cowie (22:45) and varsity newcomer Adrian Smith (23:06) aided the victorious effort with fifth, eighth and 12th, respectively.

“She’s got some finishing speed that maybe she didn’t know she had,” coach William Calvert said of Leahrose Mami. “I’m glad she discovered it.”

Steven Mami (18:08) and Will Sciaroni (18:10) whizzed to third and fourth on the boys side. Marco Tona (18:32) was eighth; Isaias Robles (18:50), 10th; and Nate Giffin (19:14), 14th.

The meet was St. Bernard’s third in eight days. Calvert also held a speed workout on Thursday, all part of the long-term plan for a squad looking to build on back-to-back state runner-up results by its girls.

“We did this last year and it seemed to work pretty good, so we thought we’d try it again,” the coach said. “I knew it would be taxing, but this time of the year, we feel like the best thing we can do is kind of break them down a little bit. Then after this week, we’ll start building them back up and tapering down toward sectional and state.”

The Saints will welcome Cullman and nearly 40 other schools for next Saturday’s Oktoberfest Invitational. They’ll also host the Cullman City-County Classic Oct. 23, a week to the day before sectionals.