Cross country: Gardendale girls team qualifies for state meet with runner-up finishes at sectionals

Published 5:18 pm Friday, November 6, 2015

Gardendale’s girls cross country team has qualified for the state championship meet next week, thanks to a second-place finish in the AHSAA Class 6A sectional qualifying meet Thursday at Hewitt-Trussville.

The Rockets placed four runners in the top 13 places, but were still well behind Homewood, which won the meet with a perfect 15 points. Alexa Kauffman and Kaitlyn Clark finished sixth and seventh, respectively; followed by Jaycee Dill in 12th, Alyssa Cornelius in 13th and Ashlynn Mason in 25th.

Pinson Valley was sixth in the team standings, but freshman Tatiana Padgett earned an individual qualification for the state finals with a 15th-place finish. (The top six runners whose teams did not qualify on their own can run at the state finals as individuals.)

In Class 6A boys, Gardendale just missed the third team qualifying spot, as they were edged out by seven points by Chelsea. Josh Lankford placed 12th to qualify individually. Pinson Valley was five points behind the Rockets in fifth place; Rudd Middle eighth-grader Seth Lord finished 18th to qualify as an individual, along with Rolando Martinez (20th).

In Class 5A, both Mortimer Jordan and Corner were just short of making the cut as teams, but several of their runners qualified for the state meet as individuals.

On the girls’ side, Payton McCaleb of Corner placed 10th in the meet at Cold Springs, and teammate Gracie Otts was 13th. Savanna Englisbee was 16th and Jessica Crane 18th for Jordan. All four qualified for the state finals.

The Yellow Jackets placed fourth in the team standings, just 11 points out of third place. The Blue Devils were three points behind Corner in fifth.

In the 5A boys sectional, Corner’s Daniel McCain placed fifth, and Jordan’s Gavin Rogers was 11th, earning them a spot in the state meet. Corner was fourth in the team results, eight points out of the third and final qualifying spot. (Mortimer Jordan did not field a full team of five runners.)

The AHSAA championship meet takes place on Sat., Nov. 14 at Oakville Indian Mounds Park in Moulton.