*The start of the 2022 MHSAA 6A Boys Championship race
Photo credits: Chris Bell, MileSplit Mississippi
The 2022 MHSAA 6A Boys Cross Country State Championship was arguably one of the most tactical state championship races that 6A has seen. A slow starting pace left the race wide open for anyone to take.
Going into the race, the three contenders with the fastest seed times were Jaheim Bridges, Taylor Brown, and Jaquavion Bryant, in that order. All of these runners had 5K times of 15:40 or faster. However, the pack got out through the first mile in the 5:10-5:15 range. While this is a respectable pace, this was a hobby jog for runners of this caliber. This slow start left a huge pack of runners in the race.
*The lead pack at the 2022 MHSAA 6A Boys Cross Country Championship
Photo credits: Chris Bell, MileSplit Mississippi
After the first mile, the pack started to string out and break apart. Bridges, Brown, and Bryant, along with Farren Oberto and middle school sensation Andrew Brown, remained at the front and took charge.
In the final kilometer, moves were being made left and right, and one by one, athletes began to drop off until just Bridges and Bryant remained.
Going up the last incline to the finish line at Choctaw Trails, Bryant used his middle-distance speed and strode ahead, storming up the hill to win the MHSAA 6A Individual Title. His time was 16:04, running a huge negative split in the second half.
*JaQuavion Bryant out kicking the field to win the 2022 MHSAA 6A Boys individual title
Photo credits: Chris Bell, MileSplit Mississippi
Bryant of Pearl is only a sophomore. This was his fourth win of the season, and it was the one that counted the most. The tenth-grader came onto the scene this year as one of the biggest improvers in the state. Last season Bryant held a personal best of 16:55, which is nothing to scoff at, but in the pre-season projections, he was not in the talks to win this year's state title. Bryant made his name known with his performance at the 2022 Jesse Owens Classic, where he won the silver boys race with a time of 15:40.
The individual state title was the perfect way to cap off Bryant's breakout sophomore season.
Coming in just four seconds behind Bryant was Bridges of Tupelo. The senior repeated as the 6A individual runner-up, running 16:08. Behind Bridges was his teammate, Taylor Brown, who ran 16:11.
In fourth was Oberto of Pearl. Andrew Brown, the little brother of Taylor and the Mississippi Middle School boys 3K state record holder, finished fifth in his first-ever high school MHSAA championship race.
The top five finishers came from just two teams: Pearl and Tupelo. To call this placement section a significant factor in the team scoring would be an understatement.
Switching over to the team-scoring perspective, this race was a battle between three teams: Pearl High School, Tupelo High School, and Oak Grove High School.
Placing third was Oak Grove. Their top three finishers all came in together, placing 11th, 13th, and 14th. These runners were Gavin Wheat, Bennett Ferguson, and Grayson Taylor. Jaden Gray placed 18th, and Jacob Eye rounded out their scorers in 39th. They tallied together for a score of 95, just two points behind the runner-ups.
That runner-up team would be the Golden Wave. With their top three runners placing second, third, and fifth, they had a considerable advantage over the other teams as they were very top-heavy. Their fourth finisher was Harrison Wampler, who placed 33rd, and their final scorer was Seth Hays, who placed 50th. They placed second with a score of 93 points.
*Pearl High School holding the MHSAA 6A Championship banner
Photo credits: Chris Todd
The winning team was none other than the Pearl Pirates. Competing with Pearl's feat of placing their top four runners finishers was incredibly hard the top ten fin. That consisted of Bryant in first, Oberto in fourth, Tanner Moore in eighth, and Maxi Duran in tenth. Their No. 5 on the day was Jon Haralson in 17th. Just in case they were worried about a tie-breaker, their sixth and seventh runners, Brendan Clark and Karol Gonzalez also placed in the top 22 finishers. Scoring only 40 points, this team will go down as one of the deepest teams in Mississippi history.