Cullman’s boys cross country squad outpaced Florence for the large-school crown, and St. Bernard’s Leahrose Mami and Andrew Sweeney dominated their respective small-school fields for individual triumphs at Saturday’s ninth annual Oktoberfest Invitational.

Eli Wilhite recorded a first-place outing (16:52.52) for the Bearcats, while Tucker Adkison (fifth), Will Thompson (seventh), Edgar Medina (10th) and Jackson Tucker (16th) also secured excellent times in the winning effort — the Black and Gold were just 10 points better than the runner-up Falcons for the coveted hardware.

Coach Trent Dean couldn’t be happier with the way his talented squad is progressing heading into November’s sectional and state meets … though he would like to see his guys slow things down a bit.

Just not on the course.

“At this point in the season, the kids are wanting to look ahead,” he said. “So the challenge for me is just trying to keep them focused on our day-to-day stuff and the short-term goals. If we keep doing that, the opportunities will follow at our important meets. I think two programs have distinguished themselves in Class 6A this season — Homewood and Cullman. Homewood has won five straight state titles. They know how to win. But our guys are going to go in there and try to knock them off. I like where we are at.”

Fairview’s Quinton Chambers notched an eighth-place showing as an individual in the large-school division.

Sweeney corralled his fifth triumph of the season following a time of 16:52.29 among 92 1A-3A participants.

Caleb Guthery (eighth), Joey McCarthy (15th), Joseph Arriaga (20th) and Francis Mami (26th) complemented their leader with impressive showings of their own en route to a second-place finish behind Westminster Oak-Mountain.

Coach William Calvert loved what he saw from Sweeney out on the trails.

“Andrew is just a tremendous endurance monster,” he said. “He puts in miles and miles and miles. He’s really starting to add some speed to his strength.”

Conner Lowery (11th), Zackery Reynolds (21st), Christopher Putman (43rd), Charlie Huddleston (49th) and Andy Light were the top runners for Holly Pond, which finished eighth overall in the small-school group.

Mami, meanwhile, netted her fourth victory of the season with a time of 20:28.22 to help the Lady Saints place second to Westminster Oak-Mountain in the small-school category.

Liz Medina (20th), Eva Barck (21st), Claire Sanders (25th) and Anna Beth Guthery (28th) also ran exceptional races for St. Bernard’s girls.

“Leahrose is very talented,” Calvert said. “And she’s getting more physical. She’s going to have a shot at state. She’s definitely one of the top three or four runners in Class 1A-2A.”

Holly Pond, which nabbed fourth, was led by Camilla Chambers (fifth), Abigail Kusz (seventh), Maritza Ramon (29th), Madison Frnka (32nd) and Anna-Marie Kusz (47th).

Cullman and Fairview finished fourth and eighth, respectively, in the large-school division.

Della Kelly (ninth), Jennifer Aviles (19th), Tess Heaton (25th), Mattie Green (32nd) and Alexandra Holt (38th) crafted sublime times for the Lady Bearcats, while Alex McDonald (sixth), Kennedy Chambers (40th), Emma Gardner (45th), Alyssa Harper (48th) and America Diaz (60th) did the same for the Lady Aggies.

The 2017 county cross country meet is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 26 at Hanceville.