It's been a while, but your favorite coach on the coast is back! It's about midway through the season so I wanted to get an idea of where things stood in The Bottom Six. I used my MileSplit subscription to run a virtual meet of the 10 Bottom Six schools. Team wise on the boys' side it looked like this:
Rank Team Score (top 5)
1 Saint Patrick Catholic High School 34
2 Ocean Springs High School 37
3 Gautier High School 123
4 Pascagoula High School 170
5 Pass Christian High School 170
6 Resurrection Catholic School
7 D'Iberville High School
8 Long Beach High School
9 Saint Martin High School
10 Vancleave High School
I was surprised that St. Patrick edged out Ocean Springs. I mean, I know St. Patrick is good every year and so is Ocean Springs. I guess I just thought the larger school would prevail, but I was wrong, The Irish are the best team right now in the bottom six counties.
**State Editor's Note: It should be noted that, while Saint Patrick is ahead of the Ocean Springs Greyhounds in a virtual meet, the Greyhounds took down Saint Patrick in a head to head matchup at the George County Invitational**
Let's look at some of the individual performances that have come out of the bottom six so far this season. Jack Hewes hasn't been challenged much, but his season best so far is 16:32.32. The closest competition on the coast is his teammate, Joseph Ross, who has run 17:20.18 this season. Hewes would like to get back in the range of his PR, 15:54.80, but it's tough when you're all alone at the front. Ocean Springs' top runners are Trent Lansdown, James Roberts, and Ace Crosby. These guys run 17:29, 1739, and 17:47 respectively. D'Iberville's Devion Hart has been impressive this year, running 18:02.02. Two more Irish and one from Ocean Springs come in at places 7-9. That's St. Pat's Tristan Davis at 18:09.5, OS's Tristan Lartigue at 18:14.71, and Luke Meyers from St. Patrick running 18:17.45. Gautier's Aaron Villa rounds out the top ten with a time of 18:29.15.
On the Girls' side, the team standings look like this:
Rank Team Score (top 5)
1 Ocean Springs High School 24
2 Saint Patrick Catholic High School 71
3 Gulfport High School 87
4 Pascagoula High School 110
5 Biloxi High School 166
6 George County High School
7 Saint Martin High School
8 Long Beach High School
9 Vancleave High School
10 Picayune Memorial High School
Ocean Springs and St. Pat flip flop from the boys' results, OS winning pretty easily as well. I was surprised by the number of NTS (No Team Score). In Cross Country you have to have 5 runners to score as a team. I wonder if all of those schools are competing? Maybe they only have a few runners? I know that's the case with OLA. I also know that my team is smaller this year. I've only got 9 when I'm used to having 20 or 25. Cross Country is tough, maybe people just don't want to run any more?
Addison Rainey from OS is the top girl on the coast right now, her season best is 19:23.23. Her teammate, Maya Messenger is #2 with a time of 21:02.0. Another Greyhound, Caylee Ano, is third with a time of 21:10.18. Grace Brewer from East Central is the number 4 runner on the coast right now, her season best is 21:29.10. Michelle Brown from Ocean Springs is fifth with a time of 21:39.79. St. Patrick's first runner comes across at #6, it's Jordan Ware with a time of 21:49.00. The 7th place runner is PRC's Mia Ramsdell, she's run 22:01.92. Gulfport's Ava Benefield comes in with a time of 22:11.70 to secure 8th place and another Irish runner, Lillieann Bentz comes across the line in 22:34.0. Rounding out the top ten we have Addison Locklear from Vancleave with a season best time of 23:07.0
Well, that's a look at what would happen if all 10 times in the bottom six would run in a meet together. Essentially it's bragging rights for Mississippi's coastal counties.
I hope you enjoyed this look into the cross country scene on the coast, see y'all at the meets.