St. Bernard's Ivy Edge and Leahrose Mami run out front during the varsity girls race at Thursday's City-County Classic. Edge was the winner.

Casey Guthery only had one word to say after winning Thursday’s City-County Cross Country Classic.

Undefeated.

When it comes to the St. Bernard speedster’s home course, he’s absolutely correct.

Guthery cruised to first place in 17:16 — 25 seconds quicker than the next-best runner — to make it 2 for 2 this season on the Saints’ familiar trails. The junior snagged his first career victory at the St. Bernard Oktoberfest Invitational earlier this month.

It’s becoming pretty clear to Saints’ coach William Calvert that Guthery loves the small school’s on-campus course, especially its abundance of terrain.

“Casey’s learned to be a great competitor,” the longtime leader said. “That’s a big plus for us going into sectionals and state. I’m looking forward to what he can do there. We’re going to need him to race like that to have a shot to win.”

Cullman’s Joey Franklin jogged into second all by his lonesome, leaving the real drama to an all-out sprint for third. St. Bernard’s Steven Mami made up a small gap down the stretch to take the spot by a nose over the Bearcats’ Tucker Adkison.

The close finish made all the difference in the fight for the team title, which the Saints squeaked out by a 28-29 margin.

Marco Tona (seventh, 18:25), Will Sciaroni (eighth, 18:40) and Andrew Sweeney (ninth, 18:41) rounded out the top five for St. Bernard.

Eli Wilhite (fifth, 18:04), Tucker Franey (sixth, 18:10) and Jackson Tucker (12th, 18:48) accounted for Cullman’s other counting scores.

Cody Fallin (18:46) led third-place Fairview in 10th. Vinemont’s Hunter Green (19:10) was 16th. Aaron Brown (20:04) was Hanceville’s top runner in 23rd. Adrien Hargrove (21:27) was Good Hope’s in 34th.

GIRLS

Ivy Edge (20:38), Leahrose Mami (20:41) and Adrian Smith (20:57) all turned in expeditious runs to help St. Bernard garner the top three spots and the overall girls crown at Thursday’s City-County Classic.

Teammates Lizbeth Medina (seventh, 23:01) and Claire Sanders (ninth, 23:39) rounded out best times for the Saints, who edged Cullman (36) by 14 points. Fairview (69) finished third.

“I think we did pretty well,” said Smith, a freshman. “We’re just trying hard to get ready for state. We’ve logged more miles this year, so I really hope we can make it two in a row.”

Coach William Calvert lauded the improved performances of his young runners — Smith and Sanders, particularly — and added his squad looks to be as prepared as possible for its upcoming showdowns.

“We always like to win this meet, because it’s local and it helps us out,” he said. “We’re as ready as can be. We just have to get our team healthy and keep them that way. We’re excited.”

Lexi Sivley (22:28), Rachael Collins (22:29) and Alexandra Holt (22:46) recorded 4-5-6, respectively, for the Class 6A Bearcats. Kendall Adkinson (eighth, 23:24) and Anna Franklin (13th, 24:42) also earned strong times.

Emma Gardner (10th, 23:53) and Madison Wright (35th, 30:20) hustled to team-best outings for Fairview and Good Hope.

Sectional meets for every cross county program are slated for Thursday, November 7. The state meet will take place on November 14.

---

Northwest Alabama Championships

Jared Stanley was the varsity boy to beat, and Cold Springs clinched its first Northwest Alabama Championships title Thursday at the Oakville Indian Mounds, the site of the fast-approaching state meet.

The Eagles, the defending Class 1A-2A state champs, bested 5A Lawrence County and 28 other full 1A-7A squads for the top team prize.

The meet featured almost 600 runners and was reserved solely for schools located west of I-65, north of Hwy. 78 and northwest of Hwy. 69.

Stanley (16:39), C.J. Lang (fourth, 16:52), Kramer Crider (eighth, 17:07), Mason Harris (18th, 17:48) and Trentan Williams (20th, 17:55) had Cold Springs’ counting scores in a field of 362 varsity boys.

The Lady Eagles were without Ashleigh White and Sadie Terry but still managed ninth out of 23 full teams.

The Blue and Gold’s top five were Alyssa Jackson (23rd, 21:19), Brooke Crider (36th, 22:10), Abi Burrow (86th, 24:05), Bailey West (92nd, 24:14) and Rachel Haynes (93rd, 24:17) in a field of 230 varsity girls.