MOULTON – Expected to challenge from the start of the cross country season, the Cold Springs Eagles did just that Saturday morning in the Pepsi Cross Country Challenge Invitational hosted by Lawrence County High School.
The defending 1A/2A state champion Eagles finished a point behind Randolph School in the 1A-3A division with 56 points. The Raiders collected 55 while West Limestone was third, followed by Westminster Christian and Elkmont.
Coach Clayborn Campbell's top two runners served notice of contending for the top spot while facing warm weather on the final Saturday of August.
Jared Stanley came in third with a time of 17:46.15 while his teammate, C.J. Lang, was fourth best with a time of 17:58.31.
Randolph's Matthew Estopinal was the winner with the fastest time of 17:30.57, edging Chase Prater of Elkmont who had a time of 17:30.69.
Holly Pond runner Jacob Drane took home 11th place at 18:47.11 with sophomore Mason Harris and freshman Jonathan Collett of Cold Springs in the 15th and 16th positions. Harris' time was 19:11.55, with Collett coming in at 19:16.39.
Another sophomore for the Eagles, Trentan Williams, was 18th with a time of 19:30.32. Having five in the Top 20 showed the Eagles were up to the challenge in the quest to have another solid season on the course after losing standouts Kramer Crider and Austin Burwell to graduation.
Crider is now running at the University of Alabama-Huntsville with Burwell performing for the University of Montevallo.
Cold Springs' Lady Eagles also enjoyed a good day of running, coming in second to Randolph School with 57 points. Randolph accounted for 39 in the season opener, led by winner Katherine Hunter with a time of 22:03.44.
For the defending county champion Lady Eagles, freshman Sadie Terry had the lowest time for her unit with 22:57.04, seventh individually.
But she was not the fastest in the race representing the Cullman County school system. Holly Pond eighth grader Camilla Chambers took home fourth place with a time of 22:40.56.
Cold Springs' young and talented runners included eighth-grader Brooke Crider in 10th at 23:21.82, freshman Alyssa Jackson in 12th at 23:21.04, eighth-grader Ava Akridge in 16th at 24:36.18 and sophomore Aby Burrow 29th overall with a time of 26:14.09.
Randolph had breathing room on the Lady Eagles with their top four runners finishing in the Top 13, in comparison to just two in that position for Cold Springs.
The 5 km runs were held at Alexander Park in Moulton, not the Jesse Owens site nearby, that is the site for the AHSAA state championships in early November.
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