The Brookhaven High Panthers dominated the podium at the Region 3-5A cross-country meet Wednesday at Choctaw Trails in Clinton.

Both teams took home the team competitions while also grabbing the top four individual times.

Senior Miyah Miller was the top Lady Panther finisher with a time of 20 minutes, 41 seconds. Junior Gracie Gray (20:55) finished in second, junior Bailey Pounds (20:58) was third and freshman Ellie Slay (21:29) finished fourth.

Other runners for the Lady Panthers included junior Emmaline Wolfe (22:08), junior Carley Craig (22:19), senior Abby Roberts (22:31), eighth-grader Quinn Boerner (23:41), eighth-grader Lilly Gray (23:42), senior Jordan Fries (25:59) and freshman Merritt Wolfe (26:12).

The win by Brookhaven was nothing short of dominating, as they scored 16 points and their closest competition — Natchez High School — scored 75 points.

It was the second straight year for Miller to take first place in the region meet and the fourth straight season for the Lady Panthers to take the top team prize.

The Panthers were just as dominating on the boys’ side of the event, as junior Jacob Britt finished in first place with a time of 17:17. Britt was followed by freshman Grayson Childress (17:25) in second place, freshman Sam Arnold (17:33) in third place and freshman Jake Thompson (17:48) in fourth place.

Other runners for the Panthers included sophomore Trace Brady (19:03, seventh place), freshman Collin Kellum (19:25, 10th place), junior Samuel Mabile (19:56), sophomore Billy Jackson (20:11), sophomore Jack Bower (20:39), junior James Gardner (21:27) and freshman Trey Knott (22:13).

The Panthers took the top spot in the team competition with 19 points, followed by Natchez in second place with 67 points. Like the girls, the win was the fourth consecutive season for the Panthers to take the top spot in the region.

Next up for BHS is the 5A State Championship on Nov. 3 at Choctaw Trails. The 5A girls’ race begins at 2 p.m., followed by the 5A boys’ race at 2:30 p.m. The 5A awards ceremony will take place at 3:35 p.m.

The BHS boys are the defending 5A state champions after edging out Saltillo by four points in 2017. The Brookhaven girls finished second in the state meet in 2017 behind Saltillo.

Story by Cliff Furr