DAPHNE, Alabama—Bayside Academy's Lady Admirals won the AHSAA 3A State Cross-Country meet Saturday at Jesse Owens Park near Oakville with a 66-71 point victory over a strong rival  in T.R. Miller.

With two seventh graders in the top 10 (Mary Catherine Branyon led the Bayside girls with a third-place overall finish and Abigail Warner captured 10th) along with senior Molly Pinnux 12th, and junior Carlisle Calametti 18th along with freshman Catie Caldwell and junior Bowen Spottswood, the Lady Admirals  claimed the 3A Girls Alabama High School State Athletic Association championship.

Bayside head coach Alan Foster was pleased with the result and was not surprised given the effort and talent that came together this fall.

"I could not be happier for the girls team this year, they all gave great efforts and our seniors Dorothy Walton, Iris Harrison and Molly Pinnix did a fantastic job of creating a competitive and positive team dynamic all season." he said.  

The Lady Admirals were led by the three All-State Top-15 performers this year: Branyon, Warner and Pinnix.

"Mary Catherine Branyon, who as a seventh grader finished 3rd overall at the State meet and earlier in the season set a new school record of 19:08 for 5K (3.1 miles) at the Section Meet, set the tone early for the team by running in the lead pack for the first mile," Foster added.  "Another seventh-grade super-star, Abigail Warner finished 10th as senior Molly Pinnix added another All-State medal to her collection finishing 12th.  Junior Carlisle Calametti, freshman Catie Caldwell and junior Bowen Spottswood gave strong efforts to help push the Admirals to the top spot on the podium finishing ahead of the T.R. Miller's fifth runner while eighth-grader DeLaney Klutes, senior Iris Harrison, freshman Emi Rudat and Sophomore Kerri Raley rounded out Bayside's top ten." 

On the boys side for 3A Bayside, junior Ryan Shankle ran a smart race and finished 5th overall, Foster said.  "Freshman Ash Midyett sprinted to his first All-State honor finishing 15th overall and looks to help the boys team be a contender at next year's state meet."