DAPHNE, Ala. — The No. 1-ranked girls cross-country team in the state’s 3A Classification, Bayside Academy’s Lady Admirals, will be in the running today for their Section meet at Langan Park in Mobile. The defending state champs are set to start at noon today in the final qualifying contest before the state meet in Moulton the following weekend.

Bayside head coach Alan Foster hopes to keep up the pace all the way with his team’s blend of senior leadership combined with middle-school energy and speed.

“We started the season off with a bang beating St. Pauls in a season-starting dual meet,” he said. “Our senior girls Bowen Spottswood, Carlisle Calametti, Brittany Houseman and Isabel Leatherbury have provided great leadership and guidance this year. Some weeks we depend on their toughness, talent, strong finishes to help us bring home a trophy and other weeks — we simply need their wisdom, upbeat attitudes and good energy to keep the positive team dynamic that they have built.

“Eighth graders Mary Catherine Branyon and Abby Warner have led the pack for the entire season and are both ranked in the top six individually for 3A. M. C. set the Bayside School record running 18:57 at the Daphne Invitational just missing the individual crown being outrun by St. Paul’s Anna Braswell (who was a 3 time outdoor Track Champion last spring in the 800, 1600, 3200 at the 5A meet).

“Abby ran 19:47 at Wildcat Invite (Pensacola, Fla.)-—the first meet of the season taking the runner-up trophy and ran 19:54 at Jesse Owens finishing in fouth just behind M.C., who ran 19:47 for third. The top-ranked defending state champs will be challenged this year by the usual suspects T.R. Miller, Pisgah and Sipsey Valley right in the mix, Foster added.

“Our team has finished second at Jesse Owens, second at Daphne, third at the Wildcat and third this past weekend at the McGill-Toolen Relays. Freshmen Delaney Klutes — who earned First Team honors at Daphne and Jesse Owens)— is making great strides. Sophomore Catie Caldwell and eighth grader Pernille Buhl have put together several impressive workouts in the last two weeks and we are looking forward to their Sectional races. Emi Rudat and Darby Kemper look to round out the scoring on the girls side at Section.”

In the boys division, the Admirals, led by senior Ryan Shankle, are continuing to improve and look to place strongly at section and make the cut for state as a team. The boys make a run for it at 12:45 p.m.

“The Boys team ran very well at Jesse Owens beating several team ranked ahead of them and moved closer to Cottage Hill —who will likely compete with Westminster Academy for the State title,” Foster said.

“We have our hands full with Trinity, T.R. Miller and Montgomery Catholic at Section. If we can get past two — we qualify. Ryan Shankle has run 16:24 early in the season to win the Daphne Invitational and looks stronger than ever. He earned the Runner-up Trophy at the Wildcat Invite. I was very impressed with his bid to win the Jesse Owens meet, making a move with a mile to go. He finished third. Still very proud of him for ‘Going for it,’ rather than playing it safe and running for second. Gotta love the effort and the desire to put it all out there.

“Ash Midyett has progressed steadily this year, improving every week. He ran a personal best Daphne finishing sixth and just last week nearly won his race at McGill-Toolen. We see a big finish in the cards for Ash.

“Austin Chesire has quietly made a mark running 18:02 in his first race. William Hixson and Alex Grace have established themselves as our fouth and fifth runners and need to have big races at Section for us to qualify for state.

“Trevor Gibbons, Charles McDonald, Jacob Hartley, Griffin Williams, Sam Colville, Jacob Melendez and David Ham could all play a major role at Sections.”