Awards
Best Team Race
*East Rankin Academy at the 2022 Watson Cross Country Classic
Photo credits: Ben Woolhouse
Winner: MAIS 5A Girls
The MAIS 5A Girls Team race was as tight as it could get. The state championship title went down to the wire between East Rankin Academy and Columbia Academy.
The entire race came down to the placement playout of fifth place to 18th place.
This chunk of placement included six East Rankin runners and six Columbia runners.
East Rankin's top two runners, Audrey Mayatte and Leah Collipp, placed fifth and seventh.
Following them were all of Columbia's top four. Briley Speights, Blair Pounds, Madelyn McKenzie, and Emmi Burrell finished eighth through 11th. This slew of girls placing in the top eleven was huge for Columbia's chances of winning.
However, East Rankin responded. Emma Raines and Emily Williams placed 12th and 13th. Arin Hawk, their No. 5 runner, finished in 15th.
Breaking up that pack of East Rankin runners was Columbia's fifth runner Macy Robertson, who placed 14th.
Through each team's top five runners the scores were as close as they could get. Columbia had 52 points. East Rankin had 52 points.
To determine the tiebreaker, the score of the sixth runner has to be taken into account.
East Rankin's Kaylynn Ramirez ran 22:49 to place 16th, giving East Rankin the MAIS 5A Girls State Championship.
It was a thrilling team battle to watch, as we have said all year, the big three of Simpson, East Rankin, and Columbia have elevated MAIS 5A Girls into the deepest classification in the MAIS.
As for the Lady Patriots, they have now successfully defended their MAIS title, and it has truly been awe-inspiring to watch Coach Hopper and his support staff turn the program into what it is today.
Best Individual Race
*Sidney Stegall at the 2022 Watson Cross Country Classic
Photo credits: Ben Woolhouse
Winner: MAIS 5A Boys (Sidney Stegall v. William Fugate)
The award for the Best Individual Battle for the crown has to go to the champion and runner-up of the 5A Boys 5k race.
The individual showdown for a state title between Sidney Stegall of Heritage Academy and William Fugate of Madison St. Joseph HS has been coming ever since the season started and these runners were trading wins and losses. The two MAIS powerhouses had gone at it twice before this race at the 2022 City Auto Memphis Twighlight and the 2022 Watson Cross Country Classic.
At the 2022 Watson Cross Country Classic, Fugate quite possibly had the best race possible and turned many heads. He had been coming off a great race at the 2022 Clinton Arrow Cross Country Invitational where he finally broke 16 minutes for the first time and had been on a winning streak the past three meets before that. With all this momentum going in his direction, Fugate showed why he is ranked #6 in Miss. and beat out runners who were ranked higher than him like Jaquavion Bryant and Jaheim Bridges. Additionally, Stegall actually did lose to Fugate at the 2022 City Auto Memphis Twilight, coming in at 16:31.0 to Fugate's 16:15.6.
However, after that race, Stegall began to pop off and started conquering almost every race he ran at. So when the two had their rematch at Watson, Stegall had it in his mind he could put up a fight and win with any runner on the starting line.
At many points in the season, Stegall had the fastest 5k time in the entire state and had head-to-head wins against Jaheim Bridges and Taylor Brown to prove the fact that he was a very dominant runner indeed. Stegall had his revenge on Fugate from the Memphis Auto at Watson, nabbing a new PR of 15:35.5 and beating Fugate's new PR of 15:41.4. However, the idea of a rematch now that Fugate knew how far he could push himself was a riveting idea indeed.
When the two stepped on the line at the state meet, we knew it was going to be the most competitive individual battle of the day. Ultimately, it would be Stegall that would pull away from Fugate and grab his first MAIS State Cross Country title. However, the two runners could have the opportunity to battle it out one last time on the grass at the 2022 Mississippi XC All-State Meet, and even further along around the oval office in the 2023 outdoor track and field season.
Running 19:09, Rankin easily took home the win, as she was almost two minutes ahead of the next competitor.
This time broke the previous MAIS 6A Girls Championship record by 28 seconds. The previous record of 19:37 was set by Avery Rankin, older sister of Ella, in 2018.
Rankin is a three-time MAIS 6A Cross Country Champion, having won the individual title in 2020, 2021, and now 2022. With the record broken and sheer dominance over the rest of the field, Rankin is the surefire winner of Best Individual Performance from the 2022 MAIS Cross Country Championships.
Best School Performance
*Reese Johnson placing second in the 2022 MAIS 6A Girls Championship race
Winner: Madison Ridgeland Academy
Going into the meet, it was no mystery that Madison Ridgeland Academy would dominate the team scores of the MAIS 6A Girls and have a good chance in the MAIS Boys 6A race. However, the Patriots went above and beyond to have the best team performances of the entire state meet by dominating for a sweep.
Based on the virtual meet for the 6A races, the fastest performances of every MAIS 6A girl and boy were compared and slotted against each other to give a possible projection of where each would place. Based on all these stats, the lowest the Lady Patriots would score was 26 points with their top five runners in the top 10. The boys 6A race would be a lot closer between the boys of MRA against Jackson Preparatory School, but ultimately, MRA would come out on top.
When the day came, the MRA girls had their strongest team showing of the whole season. They beat their projected finish by three points, but more impressively, their entire top seven runners were top 10 finishers thanks to their numbers five and seven runners both running season bests. The boys had an even more impressive showing on state day. The Patriots were originally slated for 40 points in the virtual meet but beat that projection by 14 points for a score of 26. Four of their top seven runners ran faster than they ever have and beat out competitors that were slated to add more points to their team score.
This is the first time in school history that MRA has swept both divisions and it has been a long time coming. The girls went on to continue their state meet streak their sixth consecutive team win, so it was only a matter of time before the boys would follow. Compared to their performances last year, the boys improved their average 5k time by a whole two minutes from 20:44 to 18:43 and helped secure MRA domination for the 2022 MAIS State Meet
Biggest Upset
Winner: Jonas Cox
Heading into Monday, the MAIS 6A Boys race was set between Jackson Prep and Madison Ridgeland Academy.
Elliot Davis, a 4:39 miler from Jackson Prep, was set to defend his MAIS 6A Boys individual title. He had not lost to another MAIS 6A competitor all year, and was the favorite heading into the championship season.
However, a fast first mile from MRA's Jonas Cox and Ford Johnson put them in the driver's seat early. At the 2K mark, Cox began pulling away... and never looked back.
The MRA junior crossed the line in a new 5K PR of 17:40.1, and in doing so, became the 2022 MAIS 6A Boys Cross Country Champion.
MRA swept the podium with Cox, Johnson, and Sam Hailey, which earned them the 2022 MAIS 6A Boys Cross Country team title.