The Bottom Six: 2022 Cross Country, Best of the Coast



Who is the best team on The Coast?

By: DP Daigle

As the State Meets are in the books and we finish the All-State XC Championships, I thought it would be cool to see who has bragging rights in the Bottom Six, Mississippi's Coast.

I ran a virtual meet thanks to my subscription to MileSplit Mississippi - I highly recommend it. It's a game changer for scouting the competition and motivating your team. I included the 25 MHSAA schools in the Bottom Six in my virtual meet.

Anyway, here goes... girls first.

The girls' rankings in the Bottom Six look like this:

  1. Ocean Springs
  2. Saint Patrick
  3. PRC
  4. Gulfport
  5. Pascagoula
  6. Biloxi
  7. OLA
  8. Pass Christian
  9. Poplarville
  10. Long Beach
  11. West Harrison
  12. George County
  13. East Central
  14. Picayune
  15. Vancleave
  16. Saint Martin
  17. Hancock
  18. D'Iberville
  19. Harrison Central

Individually, Ocean Springs takes the first three spots, with Ashton Rainey, Addison Rainey, and Sarah Litton finishing in that order. The Ocean Springs Trio's times are 19:07, 19:10, and 19:35. The rest of the All Bottom Six Team looks like this:

  1. Hannah Mitchell, PRC
  2. Michelle Brown, Ocean Springs
  3. Henrietta Doxey, OLA
  4. Jayden Ware, St. Patrick
  5. Maya Messenger, Ocean Springs
  6. Lillieann Bentz, Saint Patrick
  7. Caylee Ano, Ocean Springs
  8. Grace Brewer, East Central
  9. Mia Ramsdell, PRC
  10. Aisley Coleman, Ocean Springs
  11. Hailey Scott, Ocean Springs

And now for the boys. The rankings go like this:

  1. Ocean Springs
  2. Saint Patrick
  3. Biloxi
  4. Saint Martin
  5. Saint Stanislaus
  6. D'iberville
  7. PRC
  8. Long Beach
  9. Pass Christian
  10. Gulfport
  11. Picayune
  12. Resurrection
  13. Gautier
  14. Bay High
  15. Pascagoula
  16. George County
  17. West Harrison
  18. Harrison Central
  19. Poplarville
  20. Vancleave

Let's talk about the individuals. Jack Hewes hasn't quite returned to the same form from last year, but he's no longer chasing anyone; he's always out in front. His season best is 16:14, and he is the best runner on the coast by a little over twenty seconds. Tate Castleman from Ocean Springs is your runner-up with a time of 16:39. Biloxi's Jordan Sanderson clocks in at 17:06 to take third place.

The rest of the top fourteen looks like this:

  1. Matheson Chen, Ocean Springs
  2. Landon Ahrens, Long Beach
  3. Trent Lansdown, Ocean Springs
  4. Ace Cosby, Ocean Springs
  5. Elvis Che, Saint Martin
  6. Ethan Fisher, GCHS
  7. Tristan Davis, Saint Patrick
  8. Nicholas Welch, Biloxi
  9. Clayton Wilhorn, Biloxi
  10. Jon Harkey, Ocean Springs
  11. Anthony Ives, Pearl River Raging Raptors

Ocean Springs has been the best team on the coast for years, but over the past few seasons, St. Patrick is also trying to stake their claim. These teams' staying power is a testament to the programs Coach Sayers and Coach McDaniels have built over the years. That and the hard work of their athletes.

Well, that's all from down here on the coast. Track season will be upon us before we know it. See y'all on the course.