DAPHNE, Alabama — Fairhope’s boys repeated as county champions in cross country Saturday at Trione park in Daphne.

Senior Pirate Shawn Hinton repeated as the individual champion as well but had to fight off teammate Jordan McKnight down the stretch to win in 16:45.24 with McKnight close at 16:51.95.

Ryan Shankle of Bayside Academy was third in 17:15 followed by Pirate teammates Thomas Grace fourth, Richard Zimmerman fifth, Alex Guillory of Daphne sixth, John Walker of DHS seventh, Tyler Pharez of Fairhope eighth, Ross Nelson of Spanish Fort ninth and Zavion Strickland of Foley 10th.

With the first five Pirates all finishing in the top 10, Fairhope won easily by a margin of 17 to 65 scored by the second-place Foley Lions led by Strickland.

The Toros and Trojans took third and fourth near Foley with a 70 and 76. Robertsdale took fifth at 146, Baldwin County sixth at 160 followed by Gulf Shores at 216.

Hinton was pleased to defend his title, but more happy about Fairhope keeping the county team crown. So were his senior teammates McKnight and Zimmerman.

“I haven’t hit this time so far all year (16:45.24), my fastest this year was 17:17 so it feels good,” Hinton said. “I wanted this one for all of us too, so today I just let loose and ran. It felt good. Jordan was pushing me, but I just kept going. It’s good to get my groove back.”

McKnight who only started competing last year, has become a consistent sub-17-minute runner.

“It was a great race,” McKnight said. “I probably hung with Shawn well until about the last 800 meters. Then Shawn started to pull away and I couldn’t keep him from opening the gap, but I’m pleased with my consistency this year. And we’re running like a team. A championship team.”

Zimmerman too, was glad to get the team championship again.

“I feel great today, especially for keeping the title in Fairhope,” he said. “I kept the Bayside guy, Ryan Shankle, in my sights and I was able to push myself to do a good time and pass the Daphne guys (Guillory and Walker). I didn’t get my PR but I feel like I will be ready for sectionals and my teammates will be too.”