NEW ALBANY, Miss. --- Jessica Cartwright from Hernando High School scored her second consecutive win for her senior season in the Large School Girl's race at the 2022 New Albany XC Classic. 

RESULTS: 4A-5A-6A Girls

She is continuing her trend of making small improvements with each race she competes, and

Cartwright blasts through the finish line with teammate Kaitlyn Burge right behind her, a junior who netted a huge personal best in the race.

Burge has again proven that she is a large asset to the success of the Hernando squad, and is making a statement to potentially jump on the next drop of the 2022 All-MileSplit Mississippi XC Team. 

The two girls were both about a minute ahead of the nearest competitor Hannah Sanders from Mooreville High School who took third place

Gabe McElwain crushes season opener

Walnut High School's Gabe McElwain kicked off his senior season with a bang with a major win in the Small School Boy's race at the 2022 New Albany XC Classic

RESULTS: Boys 1A-2A-3A

McElwain had a dominating performance over the rest of the field, resulting in an 80-second gap between him and the next competitor. 

Gabe McElwain leading the 2021 MHSAA 2A Championship field

Saltillo and Hernando snag team win

The Saltillo boys are returning to the 2022 cross-country season with a vengeance this year.

This season's start for the Tigers exceeded expectations, yet we would be lying if we said we didn't see it coming. 

The Tigers scored all of their top five runners in the top ten. They dominated the team score, with the nearest Mississippi school quadrupling their score.

Parker Shannon, Saltillo High School

Hernando girls had a strong showing as a team with their top five runners snagging top ten spots.

As mentioned above, Jessica Cartwright and Kaitlyn Burge led the girls team as the one and two, and Hernando very nearly had the three and four spots if it wasn't for Hannah Sanders. Madison McMillen closed their top five with an eighth-place finish.

Other impressive performances

Graham Weiss from Hernando placed second and was the first Mississippian in the race. He is already over a minute faster than he was this time last year and about four seconds off his PR. In summary, Weiss is certainly making a statement in the 2022 early season of cross country. 

Graham Weiss, Hernando High School

It would've been exciting to see McElwain and Brent Lyons, the winner of the Large School Boy's race, battle it out, but we still have plenty of time this season to see McElwain take on some large school competition. 

Lastly, Samuel Hopper started his year off running faster than he ever has over the 5000m distance in a time of 17:53.

What we predicted versus what actually happened

Just like we called it, Arlington got the individual win, but the boys of Saltillo in fact took down Arlington as a team to snag a very impressive win. 

Another prediction that we got right, Hernando kept up their win streak like we predicted with another impressive performance from their 1-5.

The team is loaded with very talented athletes, all whom can pick up the slack for one another on any given day.