High School Girls Individual Preview
Jessica Cartwright, Hernando High School
Cathedral Twilight
Starting us off in the high school girl's individual preview is that the girls of MAIS 5A will clash for the second time this season, except it will be on an even bigger scale this time.
East Rankin Academy will unfortunately not be making the trip to Natchez, Miss. on Saturday, but the Saint Aloysius HS duo of Samantha Edwards and Hendrix Eldridge are expected to toe the line for their season opener against some stellar competition.
Samantha Edwards winning the 2021 MAIS 5A Cross Country Individual Title
Edwards, a rising sophomore, shocked all of MAIS 5A whenever she won the 2021 MAIS 5A High School Girls individual title, taking down perhaps the best field MAIS 5A has ever put together.
Perhaps even more remarkable was that this was Edwards's one and only win of the season. She did, however, back that up with an eighth-place finish at the 2021 Mississippi XC Meet of Champions.
RESULTS: 2021 Mississippi XC Meet of Champions
Eldridge got 4th at the 2021 MAIS 5A High School Girls Cross Country Championships and 10th at the 2021 Mississippi XC Meet of Champions as just a seventh-grader but has not competed since the All-State meet way back in November of last year.
It will be very interesting to see how Edwards and Eldridge open up their season.
However, there is no doubt on who is the on-paper favorite to take this race, and that All-MileSplit Mississippi No. 7 ranked runner Layla Warren of Simpson Academy.
Layla Warren, Simpson Academy
Warren is coming off of a very successful season opener at the 2022 Early Bird 2-miler, taking down MileSplit Mississippi XC No. 3 Ella Rankin and becoming the first girl to break 12 in the 2-mile at Neely Farms.
Simpson will also have the classic 1-2 punch of Warren and Lilly Overby, who got third at the 2022 Early Bird 2-miler in 12:28.
Here is our pick: Warren will continue her undefeated streak and win the Cathedral Twilight... in another sub-12 2-mile. Overby for second place and third place is wide open.
South Panola XC Classic
The High School cross country season is underway and some of the best Mississippi athletes are making their season debuts.
Brace yourselves, because we could very well be in for the best girl's race so far this season.
Heading to the 2022 South Panola XC Classic, is perhaps the deadliest cross country duo in the state: Hernando High School's Jessica Cartwright and Riley Jackson.
Riley Jackson, Hernando High School
Going into the 2022 Cross Country season, Jessica Cartwright is the All-Milesplit MS XC No. 1 ranked athlete. She had a stellar junior season, winning the 2021 MHSAA 6A cross country individual title with a fabulous time of 18:41, as well as taking home her second MHSAA state title in the 1600m and runner-up finish in the 800m at the 2022 MHSAA 6A Track and Field State Championships.
RESULTS: 2022 MHSAA 6A Track and Field State Championships
With the kind of performances Cartwright has thrown down the past year, there are no reservations in placing her as the top contender for the victory at the 2022 South Panola XC Classic.
However, she will be hotly contested by her very own teammate Riley Jackson. The All-Milesplit MS XC No. 5 is still the South Panola XC Classic course record holder from 2020.
COURSE RECORDS: South Panola High School 5K List
Similar to Cartwright, Jackson had a phenomenal previous season. She took home a runner-up finish at the 2021 MHSAA Cross Country State Championships and a runner-up finish in the 3200m at the 2022 MSHAA 6A Track and Field State Championships.
These two athletes are no doubt two of Mississippi's finest.
Here is our pick: Come Saturday, both of these girls have it in their wheelhouse to throw down the fastest two times so far this season. Cartwright goes in as the favorite, but Jackson mostly definitely favors the longer distances. We think Cartwright is going to take the win, but if there is a meet where Jackson is Hernando's No. 1, it's going to be this one.