DAPHNE, Ala. – The Foley girls cross country team took top honors at the Daphne

Invitational cross-country meet Saturday at Al Trione Park. The

hosting Lady Trojans of Daphne took third with 49 points behind Mary

G. Montgomery's 43 and the Lady Lions' winning 32.

The boys team title went to MGM with 31, Daphne was second at 47 and Foley

third at 99. Robertsdale was fourth at 114 ahead of Alabama School of Math

and Science, B.C. Rain and Baldwin County High.

Foley coach Tausha Knight was pleased with the results. It was the first

varsity win for the girls team this year and the first for their first

year coach who also lettered in Foley CC.

"It's really a big step up for our team, a big win," she said. "We have

been working hard all year and this is also good motivation to get ready

for the county meet. It would be nice to to place in the top three in

county. The boys did well too. They have been working hard taking several

minutes off their time. They are all young. The whole boys team is young.

Only one senior but they are all first-year runners so I couldn't be more

proud of them and all my kids."

The county meet Oct. 16 will cover the same course at Daphne. The course

debuted Saturday after many years at Daphne High. Trojan head coach Joe

Hutchins said the course proved to be worthy of the change and should make

for an exciting county race.

"I think it will," he said. "We didn't know for sure how it would run, but

the weather was great. The kids, the coaches all seem to like it. So I

think it's a go for the county meet. It's flat and wide open so we're

going to get ready and hold our own. We're excited to have it."

Hutchins also fields young runners on both teams this year, but is seeing

steady progress in improved times.

"You know, MGM is a stout team but we finished real strong. Boys second,

girls third. We ran our top seven under 20 minutes. So we're getting

there. We're making progress."

Individually, Citronelle's Courtney Campbell won with a 20:58.81, Rebecca

Citrin Pober of Daphne was second at 21:58, MGM's Kaitlyn Woods was third

at 22:52, Foley's Rachel Pigott took fourth and Kayla Olson of DHS fifth.

Chelsea Gholson (Foley), Taylor Jordan (CHS), Megan Thompson (Foley),

Melissa Bradley (MGM) and Felicia Guthrie of Foley rounded out the top 10.

For the boys, MGM's twin Vikings Judd and Jaron Grantham were one and two

at 17:22.94 and 17:23.9. Daphne's Alex Guillory was third at 17:30, Tyler

Phelps of Robertsdale fourth at 17:34 and Taylor Elmore of DHS fifth at

17:59.

James Crossant (DHS), Ryan Kichler (MGM), Zach Kimmer (RHS), Tyler Rowe

(MGM) and Erik Cabrera of Foley all finished in that order under 19 minutes.

In the open JV meet, Gulf Shores' Blythe Burgmann was first followed in

order by Ramayee Nadarajan (ASMS), Erin Juny (ASMS), Savannah Brunson

(MGM) and Maggie Ferguson of St. Paul's.

The boys top five were Robert Kichler (MGM), Chandler LeGault (GSHS), Ross

McDonald, Eric Moreno and C. Peavy of Gulf Shores.