Coastal Alabama teams dominated the Daphne Invitational that was held at Blakely Park in Spanish Fort on Saturday, as St. Paul’s boys and Bayside Academy’s girls came out as varsity division winners.

St. Paul’s boys scored 52 points, placing five runners in the top 15. The Saints’ leading runner was Daniel Gill, who finished sixth in 15 minutes, 59.7 seconds. UMS-Wright, led by Charles Perry, was second with 68. Perry won the varsity boys’ race in a time of 15:29.9. Bayshore Christian School, led by Caden Phillppi’s fourth-place finish (15:52.2), was third with 117 points.

Thompson was fourth with 179 points, and Baker and Saraland had 181 points. Baker, however, was awarded fifth on the tiebreak because of a higher placing number six runner.

In all, six runners went under 16 minutes on a course that was relatively fast and run in pleasant weather. That fact was not lost on Perry, who held off Spanish Fort’s Winston McGhee (second in 15:41.2) and Thompson’s Doster Robinson (third, 15:48.7) in a highly competitive varsity boys’ race. Perry and McGhee were shoulder to shoulder in the early stages of the race before Perry made his move at about the two-mile mark.

“I started kicking at about two miles, and it worked out well for me,” Perry said. “I felt pretty smooth the whole time. I didn’t go out too fast, so I felt pretty comfortable the whole way. This is one of the fastest races because there were a lot of fast guys here.

Bayside, led by sophomore Shelby Fargason (fourth, 19:36.4), scored 66 points to win the varsity girls division. Saraland, led by Mallary Little’s seventh-place finish (20:03.9), was second (88), while St. Paul’s (104), UMS-Wright (118) and Bayshore Christian (148) rounded out the top five.

Spanish Fort’s Alexiana Hinote was the individual winner in 19:23.9, outkicking St. Paul’s Emily Miles (19:27.7) and UMS-Wright’s Mallory Helms (19:33.7). Afterwards, she said she felt good the whole time, which worked to her advantage when she made her final move.

“I knew Emily had a good kick, so I had to kick back,” she said. “I was feeling good the whole time and I was waiting for someone to make a move, so I made my move with about two and a half miles to go. The weather and the environment were good. The course had a lot of turns, but it was a good course and it helped my confidence.”

Pensacola Christian sweeps titles at Boardwalk Challenge

Pensacola Christian’s boys and girls won varsity titles at Saturday’s Faith Academy Boardwalk Challenge, held at the Faith Academy Sports Complex on Saturday.

Pensacola Christian placed five runners in the top 10 in the varsity boys’ race to win with 27 points. McGill-Toolen was second with 47 points and host Faith Academy third with 76. Rounding out the top five were the Alabama School of Math and Science (124) and Alma Bryant (129).

Pensacola Christian’s top finisher was Andrew Sheppard, who finished second in 16:42.85. Teammates Dominic Litchfield (16:50.35) and Jed Fears (17:27.93) were fourth and fifth respectively, while Walter Goncalves (seventh, 17:43.76) and Joshua Reyes (ninth, 17:52.12) were the other top 10 finishers for the Warriors.

McGill-Toolen’s William Porr won the varsity boys’ race in 15:43.13, while teammate Joshua Sasser was third (16:48.90).

Pensacola Christian’s girls were even more dominant, coming within one point of a perfect score, scoring 16 points. The Warriors placed 1-2-3-4-6, with the Tutton sisters, Jaimee and RaeAnne, coming in 1-2 with times of 18:09.53 and 19:09.59 respectively. Reagan Smith (18:11.00) and Sofia Peterlevitz (19:07.63) were third and fourth for the Warriors, while Eliana Reynolds was sixth (19:14.55).

McGill-Toolen, led by Claire Mostellar’s fifth-place finish (19:13.00) was second with 48 points, while Faith Academy (82) and Mary G. Montgomery (108) rounded out the top four teams.