Alexander Junior High seventh-grader Isabella Iles was the top finisher out of 103 racers Tuesday at Choctaw Trails. Iles was representing AJHS in the MHSAA Middle School Cross-Country Classic, an event held every year as a state title race for middle schools and junior high teams from all over Mississippi.

Running in the Medium-Sized School Division, Iles covered the 3K course in 12 minutes and 33 seconds. Abby Summers of Corinth finished second with at time of 13:03.

The previous Saturday Iles ran a 12:25 on the same course to finished third overall in a field of 155 competitors at the Watson Ford Invitational.

St. Patrick edged out Corinth for the team title while Alexander came in third overall out of 12 teams.

AJHS had four combined runners finish in the top 21 with seventh-grader Eliza Smith (13:17) finishing seventh overall, seventh-grader Maddie Henning (13:54) finishing in 18th place and seventh-grader Lucy Williams (14:12) coming in 20th.

Other competitors for the team coached by Shannon Knott and Kevin Bower included seventh-grader Abby Slay (14:27), eighth-grader Allie Beeson (14:35), eighth-grader Miley Mayfield (15:18) and seventh-grader Amelia Furr (16:43).

Seventh-grader Cooper Wallace was the top finisher for Alexander in the boys’ 3K race. Wallace finished in a time of 10:48.16. Wallace came up the hill at Choctaw Trails that leads to the finish line in a shoulder-to-shoulder race with a runner from West Lauderdale and another competitor from Corinth.

Just before the finish line, Wallace hit a kick that put him ahead of both and just .24 seconds in front of Landry Maxwell of West Lauderdale. Wallace was the only seventh-grader to finish in the top 12.

West Lauderdale was the first-place team out of 10 as Alexander finished in fourth place. Seventh-graders Coleman Knott (11:55) and Ian Iles (11:57) finished in 23rd and 24th place respectively for Alexander.

Other AJHS runners were eighth-grader Isaac Stovall (12:28), eighth-grader Asher Stringer (12:29), seventh-grader Karr Wolfe (13:37), seventh-grader Cohen Leggett (13:43), seventh-grader Tyndale Boerner (13:45), seventh-grader James Belk (13:59) and seventh-grader Jackson Greer (14:04).

There were 103 runners in the race that was won by Tristan Davis of St. Patrick with a time of 9:55. Saturday in the Watson race, Davis broke the state middle school boys’ 3K record with a time of 9:39 on the same course.

Seventh-grader Parker Satterfield (12:54) of Loyd Star finished 17th overall for Loyd Star in the boys’ Small-Sized School Division. Other competitors for coach Michelle Cases’ Loyd Star team were seventh-grader Tyler Britt (14:36), seventh-grader Riley Friloux (15:33) and seventh-grader Carter King (18:36).