Brookhaven High was among the pre-race favorites on Saturday at the MHSAA 5A state cross-country meet at Choctaw Trails in southwest Jackson. Coach Shannon Knott and his program have been among the best in the state for many years and were competing against some different schools this season thanks to the most recent round of MHSAA reclassifications.

In the girls’ race, the Panthers had four runners finish in the top 10, but unfortunately so did the Corinth Warriors. Corinth, new to 5A after moving up from 4A, won the team competition with 26 points as Brookhaven finished second with 43 points. Pontotoc High was the third-placed team with 92 points.

The boys’ championship was dominated by Corinth as all five of their top runners finished in the top seven spots of the race. Pontotoc finished second and Brookhaven finished in third place.

 

Iles leads BHS girls with 4th-placed finish

Freshman Isabelle Iles was the first Panther across the line with a time of 21 minutes and 21 seconds on the 5K course. In the team standings, Iles was counted as being the third placed finisher as the runner just ahead of her from East Central was competing as an individual in the race and not with a team.

The time was a three-minute improvement from last season when she finished 19th overall for the Panthers in another 5A runner-up finish.

Junior Natalie McKinney was the sixth-placed overall finisher and put up a time of 22:13 for the Panthers. Junior Annabelle Summers was the 10th placed overall finisher with a time of 22:36 and she finished just fractions of a second ahead of her teammate and fellow junior, Ella Thompson.

Eighth-graders Lucy Spicer and Brooklyn Lenoir, running just their second 5K race of the season, finished 17th and 18th overall. Spicer finished in a time of 23:56 and Lenoir crossed the line at 24:01.

Spicer was nearly a minute faster on Saturday than her first high school race at the regional meet. Lenoir shaved almost 40 seconds off her time from the regional meet too.

Freshman Abby Slay finished 39th overall (33rd in the team standings) with a time of 27:13 for BHS.

There were 69 total runners in the event and eight schools in the team competition. Neither Corinth nor BHS had a senior runner competing on Saturday, so expect the schools to again be near the top of the 5A field in 2024.

 

BHS boys will return entire team in 2024

Like their counterparts on the girl’s team, the Brookhaven High boys will have their entire roster back next season.

That can actually be said for much of the boy’s field from Saturday. Senior Zackary Josia Nobles of South Jones won the overall race with a time of 16:59.

Nobles ran as an individual as South Jones did not have enough runners to compete as a team. After Nobles, the next senior to compete in the race was a competitor from Gautier that came in 21st overall. Those were the only two seniors in the top 30 runners to complete the race.

Freshman Isaac Iles was the first Panther across the line as he finished 11th overall with a time of 18:04. Junior Bram Wolfe was the next finisher from BHS, with a 15th overall finish in 18:19.

Freshman Coleman Knott finished right behind Wolfe in 16th overall place with a time of 18:25. Freshman Cooper Wallace was the 20th placed finisher in 18:46.

Ian Iles, also a freshman, finished 23rd overall in 18:59 and sophomore Isaac Stovall was the 26th placed finisher with a time of 19:25. Junior Charlie Adams finished the race in 20:15 for BHS, which put him 41st overall.

There were 83 total runners in the event and 12 schools competing in the team portion of the event.