Pearl, Ocean Springs add to legacies

Pearl High School moved up a rung from Class 5A to 6A but it didn’t stop the Pirates from dominating the state cross country championships at Choctaw Trails in Jackson.

Pearl (which conducted a DyeStat_com snapchat takeover) put four runners in the top six and scored 29 points to win the boys team title easily. It was the team’s 19th state title. Ocean Springs was second with 107 points.

Nakenbe Fleming of Pearl won the race with a meet-best 16:43.9. 

In the Class 6A girls race, Kate Mattox of Starkville won her third consecutive individual title (18:40.5) and her younger sister Caroline was second. Ocean Springs (43 points) topped Pearl (65) to win its 15th overall title.

In Class 4A, the Senatobia boys (72 points) edged Corinth (75) to earn their first state championship. Chandler Underwood of East Central won the race in 17:14.8. In the girl race, Lisa May of Vancleave ran 20:15.4 for the win. Pontotoc (65 points) nipped Corinth (71) for its seventh team title since 2007 and its 16th overall.

East Union swept the Class 2A team titles. Chris Lewis of J.Z. George won the boys race in 17:27.2.  Gracie Mills of Potts Camp ran 21:00.4 to win the girls race.

The Class 5A, 3A and 1A meets were held a day earlier, on Monday.

Saltillo was the top program in 5A and swept the team titles, while Oxford placed second in both genders. Ken Gassaway won the boys race 17:18.9 to lead a 1-2 finish for Satillo, which finished with 27 points. Oxford scored 34. Both schools put their entire top sevens in the top 15 places.

Emma Kate White won the 5A girls race in 20:08.6 to lead Saltillo, which scored 20 points to finish ahead of Oxford (49) and won for the seventh time in eight years.

In Class 3A, Benjamin Hearon of Saint Andrews ran the fastest time of the day (17:00.3) and led a 1-2-3 finish as his team scored 18 points. Saint Andrews won for the fifth year in a row and the 18th time since 1996. Mooreville was second with 100 points.

St. Patrick won its fifth 3A girls title in seven years with 24 points, topping two-time defending champion and runner-up Choctaw Central (65). Ramsey Wagner of St. Patrick won the race in 19:20.7, fastest of the day.

Myrtle won the small-school state title for a fifth time since 2004, edging runner-up Hickory Flat 67-77. Hickory Flat’s Jarvis Harris won in 17:35.9. Meanwhile, Hickory Flat won a second straight girls title, defeating runner-up Tupelo Christian 41-54. West Union’s Kylie Massengill ran 20:58 for the win.

- Information from misshsaa.com contributed to this report