LOXLEY, Ala. — Spanish Fort claimed the Boys 5A-7A Division title Saturday in the Bayside Academy hosted Battle of the Bay cross-country meet at Loxley Park. It rained a river most of the morning. but the tide did not lift all ships. The Toros' male runners finished with a 68-91 win over McGill-Toolen Catholic, West Florida Tech was a close third (96) followed by Pensacola Catholic, Fairhope, Baldwin County, MGM, Baker, Davidson and Daphne to complete the top 10.

McGill-Toolen Catholic won the Girls 5A-7A Division in a close finish with St. Paul's Episcopal 53-57. Spanish Fort's girls were close on the heels of the Saints with a 60-point, third-place score. West Florida, Baker, Daphne, Robertsdale, Decatur, Davidson and MGM rounded out the ladies’ team top 10.

"Today our goal was to go out and win the middle of the race, boys and girls," said Spanish Fort head coach Pam Swan. "The boys did and won, the girls I think went out a little too fast and learned the hard way. But the boys ate it up in the middle and just super, super proud. This is a great group of hard-working kids."

Bayside was second (49 points) in the Girls 1A-4A race behind T. R. Miller’s winning 21. UMS-Wright was third (57). The Bayside Admirals took a tight third in the Boys 1A-4A varsity contest behind the UMS-W Bulldogs' 59. Miller's Tigers concluded the division sweep with a Boy’s winning low score of 40.

Individually, the best time of the day went to Von Littlejohn of West Florida who turned in a 17 minute, 8.9 second run. Saxon Kilpatrick of Fairhope led the local Boys 5A-7A runners with a fourth-place time of 17:30.5. Jack Morgan led the Toros in fifth-place (17:42). Cody Mooney of Fairhope (7) and Logan Steele of Baldwin County (10) finished in the top 10.

In the 1A-4A races, Ernest Ladd of Bayside led the Admirals and the division to win the 1A-4A Boys individual title with a 17:11.7. Allie Nelson of Miller won the 1A-4A Girls in 19:09

The girls best time overall went to Isabel Valenzuela of St. Paul's with an 18:55.0 for the Saints. Grace Jensen and Frieda Kickliter finished second and third for McT's Yellow Jackets in 19:30 and 20:45.8. Daphne sophomore Mandaline Thomas was fourth in 20:52.8, West Florida's Skylar Grant fifth (21:22.7), Faith Academy's Olivia Andrews was sixth followed by Brook Duplantier (Spanish Fort), Mallory Mott (WFT), Claire Sabo (SFHS) and Maria Areola (WFT).

More than 200 varsity runners on a total of 42 varsity teams took part with 2-mile JV races and 1.5 Elementary races also held.