Baldwin County Cross Country Championships

• Pirates, Toros win 2016 team titles; Thomas repeats as girls champion, Ladd wins boys crown

Tony Whitehead, GCM Sports
Posted 10/17/16

Fairhope's girls and Spanish Fort's boys earned team county championships while Mandaline Thomas of Daphne High and Earnest Ladd of Bayside Academy won the individual titles

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Baldwin County Cross Country Championships

• Pirates, Toros win 2016 team titles; Thomas repeats as girls champion, Ladd wins boys crown

Posted

FOLEY— Fairhope's girls and Spanish Fort's boys earned team county championships while Mandaline Thomas of Daphne High and Earnest Ladd of Bayside Academy won the individual titles in the 2016 Baldwin County 5,000 meters cross country meet at Graham Creek Nature Preserve in Foley Saturday.

The Fairhope Pirates edged the runner-up Toros girls 33-38 for the team win. Daphne was third with a score of 38. Robertsdale’s Golden Bears, led by Madelyn Wells and Paitlyn Jarvis took fourth and Baldwin County’s Tigers, led by Ava Worthy and Alondra Rangel, finished fifth.

Thomas led the female division to the tape in 19 minutes, 29.48 seconds for her second-straight county title. Fairhope was led by second-place finisher Lexie Williams (20:17.) and Pirates teammate Audrey Clark (20:23.98) in third. The Pirates had three more top-15 runners to help secure the county crown with senior Laura Cohen sixth, Ella Haffner 10th and Ellie Brown 15th.

Clarie Sabo's fifth-place led the Toros to the runner-up spot followed by Brook Duplantier (7), Sydney Tucker (8), Ryley Grantham (9) and Lilly Morris (14th). Abigail Warner of Bayside which did not field a girls team for the county meet this year was fourth overall while Daphne runners Nicole Luther (11th) and Sarah Santa-Cruz (13th) led the Trojans scoring runners with top-15 times.

Fairhope coach Tim Yahr said he was very proud of his championship team and their efforts this year.


“They endured hard workouts all summer and kept up their dedication and intensity," he said. "And that for sure helped them get ready for this season and then build and they continued to improve. They are just a great group of kids who continue to do their best and they provide great leadership and encouragement this year, especially the seniors and that includes great leadership in and out of the classroom."

Cohen, the Fairhope girls senior captain, said team work and team togetherness has been an energizing theme this season.

“We went into the season focusing on being more of a team and everybody working together,” she said. “A lot of our success is also in part due to the encouragement and the hard work of our JV team. All of our runners, whether varsity or JV have worked hard, pushed and supported each other to be the best we can be. And today it all came together.” 


In the boys scoring Spanish Fort got by Fairhope 40-49 for the county victory. The average team-time difference between the runner-up Pirates and champion Toros for the county trophy was a true split-second margin of 17.52 to 17.54. SFHS placed a herd of 10 Toros in the top 20 including five runners from sixth through 10th with two more in the top 15 stampeding to seal the decision.

Baldwin County, led by seniors Tyler Priest in third and Logan Steele in 11th scored 76 points to take county bronze for the Tigers’ team. Jack Morgan led the Spanish Fort scorers (17:43.50) at the No. 6 spot. Connor Moore, Noah Brown, Will Kent and K.K. Jones followed with all-sub-18 times while Doug Sabo and Nolan Powers finished 13th and 14th for SF.

Individually, the Admirals' Ladd, a freshman, won the 2016 title with a county-best time of 17:00.34 to out duel Fairhope sophomore Saxon Kilpatrick's 17:03.78. Priest ran a 17:29.86 for the Tigers and took third place. Cody Mooney of Fairhope was fourth (17:31.93) and Ethan Rowe of Daphne was fifth (17:38.96). Fairhope runners Blayze Hale (12th) and John Pyle (15th) rounded out the top 15.

Toros head coach Pam Swan said the SF boys were dedicated to winning county this year.


”I have nine senior boys and I know they really wanted this,” she said. “And they were willing to put in the effort and the work for it and I'm really proud of them for that. I told them it was going to take hard work, commitment, sacrifice and embracing the pain. They did and that’s what got it done for us today. I think the key was accepting the discipline to run smart the first half, stay together through the middle and then don’t wimp out in the second half and that’s what happened. It’s a happy day for them and Spanish Fort. Of course the kids' eyes are on state, but they knew that this was an important step and that we wanted to come out and establish some good solid times and keep building, keep working and keep improving.”


SF senior 
K.K. Jones said the team had not been finishing as well as they had wanted to in some races this year and were eager to reassert themselves.

“So this meet we really got together and set it as goal to win it. We knew the key was working together and running the course as a team, pushing and helping each other every step of the way. So we stayed together most of the race as long as we could and then pushed as hard as we could at he end. Doing well here was important for us. Now we’re looking forward to sectionals with a big boost and then going for it at state.”

For more results see related link or visit: Al.Milesplit.com/meets.