State cross country qualifiers announced

Qualifying teams and runners for the Mississippi state high school cross country meet have been released by the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA)

The qualifying teams in Class 6A from DeSoto County are the Hernando and Lewisburg girls, along with the DeSoto Central, Hernando, Southaven, and Lewisburg boys teams. 

Both Center Hill boys’ and girls’ squads qualified to run in the MHSAA 5A classification. 

Others running at state as individuals are Jordyn Petty and Ashari Johnson of Southaven in the 6A girls’ race. 

Southaven did not enter the state meet as a team, however Petty had the second-best time among runners taking part as individual qualifiers and Johnson was the seventh-best individual. 

Graham Weiss of Hernando and Alan Olivas of DeSoto Central are the county’s best hopes for an individual championship in the boys’ 6A race and Olivas finished one-two at the recent DeSoto County championships in Olive Branch.  

Riley Jackson of Hernando leads the county’s female runners into the state meet as county championship and she will be followed by teammate Delaney Hopkins, an eighth-grader.   

The complete list of qualifiers is listed on the MHSAA website.

The 5A state finals will be held on Saturday, Oct. 31 with girls starting at 11 a.m. and the boys at 11:30 a.m.

Class 6A will open the second day of the state meet on Monday, Nov. 2 with the girls starting at 11 a.m. and the boys’ meet following at about 11:30 a.m. 

All state championship runs will be held at Mississippi College’s Choctaw Trails in Clinton.  

(Contact desotocountynews@gmail.com)