GOOD HOPE – With the Cullman County Cross Country Meet 12 days away, five of the seven schools used the Good Hope Invitational Saturday as a tune up to get themselves familiar with the course on the Good Hope campus.
The Fairview Lady Aggies had a good day, edging the Ashville Lady Bulldogs in team competition. Both teams wound up with 39 points, but it was Fairview's Alyssa Harper who beat Ashville's Grace Staples to the finish, putting her in 15th place with Staples 16th.
Fairview also got a point for having a sixth runner, Alyssa Salas, who scored for the Lady Aggies while Ashville only brought five runners to the invitational.
While Fairview claimed the team title, Holly Pond's talented eighth-grader, Camilla Chambers, was the winner. Chambers had a time of 21:03, beating out Julianne Hill of Madison Academy who was second with a time of 21:16.
Alex McDonald got the best finish for Fairview, third place, coming in at 21:23.
Ashville brought in the fourth, fifth and sixth place runners in Meghan McCarthy, Callie Stewart and Kathleen McCarthy.
Emma Gardner from Fairview earned seventh place at 23:38 with teammates Tiffany Lodge in ninth at 24:23 and Brittany Lodge 10th place with a time of 25:07.
Lady Aggie Alyssa Harper trailed Ashville’s Grace Staples until the final seven yards when she passed her to get 15th in the event. Harper's time was 26:15 with Staples next at 26:18.
Ashville topped Fairview in the varsity division with 36 points to 42. Winning the individual crown was Will Oglesby from Madison Academy at 17:24.
Daniel Tully of Ashville took second at 17:50 while Will Woods of Marion County grabbed third place at 18:09.
Jacob Drane from Holly Pond wound up fourth in the meet at 18:25 with Quinton Chambers of Fairview fifth best at 18:27.
Aggie Jacob Guthrie gained a seventh place finish at 19:19, Aaron Brown of Hanceville took eighth at 19:20, Will Butler of Fairview ninth with a time of 19:41 and Zac Reynolds of Holly Pond 10th by coming in at 20:11.
Austin Lowe for the Aggies was 14th at 20:49, Conner Lowery of Holly Pond 16th at 21:09 and Blake Hogan from Fairview had a 20th place finish and a time of 21:54.
The junior varsity ran a 2-mile course with Vinemont's Will Rhodes the winner at 14:49, getting past Michael Lowe of Good Hope with a time of 14:51.
Alexus Buckelew of Good Hope earned her way to the top spot in the 2-mile with a time of 22:33.
Nine schools were involved in the invitational that was held one month later this year than 2015, when it was held on Labor Day weekend.
Eight-seven runners competed from the four divisions.
Fairview will now set its sights on the Oktoberfest run next Saturday at St. Bernard Prep School before returning to Good Hope on Oct. 20 for the county championships.
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