Junior High Girls 

Tupelo's Middle School Girls program has continued its dominance over the past few weeks.

The Blue Wave dominated at their home meet, placing their top seven in the top 26 finishers. This performance was the team's third win of the season.

This past weekend Tupelo placed fifth in a very competitive race, the 2022 Jesse Owens Classic in Alabama. Carrie Ann Brown headlined this race by finishing second, just .03 seconds shy of the win.

*Carrie Anne Brown at the 2022 Jesse Owens Classic

Photo credits: MileSplit Alabama

Northwest Rankin HS has been on fire as of late. The squad is led by eighth grader McKinley Drennan, who has not lost a race yet. With a personal best of 12:02, she is among the best middle school runners in Mississippi.

Northwest Rankin ran without Drennan at their home meet and still placed nine in the top 11. This junior high girl's team has talent and depth.

*Mckinley Drennan of NW Rankin winning The Opener (2022)

Photo credits: Christian Leach, MileSplit Mississippi

The Jackson Area teams have also been running well. Another team on that list is Clinton High School. Clinton has improved throughout the season. After getting beat by Madison Central early in the season, they got revenge at their home meet, the 2022 Clinton Arrow Invitational. At that meet, Clinton placed second to Northwest Rankin.

One of Clinton's most impressive races as a team was the Valhalla Invitational, where they finished five in the top seven. These teams will face each other soon at the 2022 Watson Cross Country Classic, a junior high Showdown for the ages.

Junior High Boys

One school that has its future varsity squad taken care of is East Rankin Academy. They just pulled off a commanding win at the 2022 Simpson Academy Invitational. With an impressive score of 17, East Rankin had five boys in the top seven. With four team wins on the season, East Rankin is becoming a powerhouse in the junior high MAIS world. 

*The East Rankin Junior Patriots at the 2022 Early Bird 2-miler

It would not be a MileSplit Mississippi article about Junior High boys without mentioning Andrew Brown and the Tupelo junior high squad. Brown is coming off a commanding win at the 2022 Jesse Owens Classic. At one of the most competitive meets in the south, the eighth grader won by 30 seconds. The rest of the junior Blue Wave also performed very well. Burton Potts and Ethan Vincent placed 13th and 14th, respectively. Tupelo finished second in a race with 26 teams.

Oxford High School is another North Mississippi team that has had an outstanding season, as they have yet to lose a meet, including a matchup with Tupelo. Toshan Delong is their No.1 runner with two individual wins in just three races.