Brooks High School Tennessee River Classic
FLORENCE, Ala. --- Jaheim Bridges and Taylor Brown dominated the 2022 Brooks High School Tennessee River Classic in convincing fashion, going 1-2 to start off their season. The Tupelo duo cruised to two sub-16:20 times to outlast the talent from Huntsville High School.
RESULTS: Varsity Boys 5-7A
Bridges' time of 16:08 ranked as the top Mississippi High School Boys in the 5K to start out the season, alongside Brown who finished with a 16:14 placing him second on the list.
RANKINGS: 2022 Miss. HS Boys 5K List
There is no doubt that this is the best duo in the state, and they have shown they will be tough to beat on the grass throughout the season.
Andrew Brown runs 10:18
Perhaps one of the best performances of the weekend was Andrew Brown from Tupelo HS. As an eighth grader, he ran 10:18 in the junior high two-mile race at the 2022 Brooks High School Tennessee River Classic, racking up yet another age group state record.
RANKINGS: Mississippi Middle School 2-mile records
Brown placed second in this race behind Huntsville's Charles Pearson.
Andrew Brown, Tupelo High School
Brown is head and shoulders the best junior high runner in Mississippi and will likely be a valuable asset for the Tupelo varsity squad come championship season.
Chandler Ray opens up XC season with a bang
Another top performance of the weekend came from Falkner High School's Chandler Ray.
Chandler Ray, Falkner High School
He had an absolutely incredible race, dropping a monster personal best by almost two minutes, and in the process, won the small school division.
After the weekend, Ray catapulted up the rankings with this performance placing him as Miss. No. 3 for the season so far, and has become a favorite to take his first-ever state title on grass.
RESULTS: Varsity Boys 1-4A
Brookelyn Morgan and Sophie Santucci place inside Top 10
Brookelyn Morgan, the All-MileSplit Mississippi No. 3, finished seventh in a loaded at the 2022 High School Tennessee River Classic. Morgan's time of 20:06 was a stellar time to kickstart her season and pushes her to the Miss. No. 1 spot.
RANKINGS: 2022 Miss. HS Girls 5K List
In addition to Morgan, her teammate Sophie Santucci got her season underway nicely with a time of 20:38 to finish eleventh. With the kind of performances both Tupelo girls had, they could be real threats as the season continues to progress.
Brookelyn Morgan, Tupelo High School
Other impressive performances
Some other notable performances include Corinth High School's, Ross Evans. He dropped a massive PR by over a minute to place inside of top 10 in the large school division. With the kind of improvement he has shown this early in the season, he no doubt could continue to throw down some impressive performances.
We also had yet another Brown join the Mississippi distance running scene - Seventh-grader Carrie Ann Brown ran the first-ever race of her career, placing second overall in the Large School Junior High Girls Division in a time of 13:27 for 2 miles.
RESULTS: JV Girls 5-7A
What we predicted versus what actually happened
We knew that there was a very strong possibility of Bridges and Brown sweeping the top two spots, but Chandler Ray of Falkner High School surprised us all with what is now a Mississippi No. 3 5K ranking at 16:21.
As a matter of fact, Ray ran the third-fastest time of the day at the 2022 Tennessee River Classic behind Bridges and Brown. This was a fantastic performance from Ray and we look forward to his next outing on the grass.
As for the ladies, Morgan and Santucci did on paper what they were supposed to do.
It was indeed a loaded field that they were in, and they navigated the situation very well. Both girls also opened up their seasons faster than they did in the 2021 season.