Lewisburg’s Kaydi Blanchard finished third in the girls’ 6A race
Photo: Hernando girls were second as a team at Wednesday’s MHSAA 6A state cross country meet at Clinton. (Credit @duanecase on Twitter)
The Hernando girls and DeSoto Central boys were the top DeSoto County finishers at Wednesday’s MHSAA 6A state cross country meet at Choctaw Trails in Clinton.
As a team, the Hernando girls finished runner-up to state champion Ocean Springs, while DeSoto Central’s boys were eighth overall as Pearl claimed the state title. The meet was moved to Wednesday with a storm threat late last week in the Clinton area moving MHSAA officials to make the move.
Lewisburg sophomore Kaydi Blanchard was the county’s top individual finisher, taking third in the 6A girls race in a time of 19:35.28. The Lady Patriots as a team finished ninth with 219 points.
Blanchard was immediately followed by Hernando’s Kaitlyn Burge, who took fourth with a time of 19:42.80. DeSoto County meet champion Jessica Cartwright was sixth at the state meet in a clocking of 19:53.90. Riley Jackson and Kyleigh Carter of Hernando also had top-20 finishes as the Lady Tigers scored 57 points, nine more than Ocean Springs.
DeSoto Central finished 17th, led by Layla McGuire’s 27th place finish and Center Hill took 16th at the state meet, paced by Maggie Linville, who was 42nd overall.
DeSoto County meet champion Kaleb Tackett led DeSoto Central, as he took 15th place in a time of 16:55.45. The Jaguars scored 238 points for its eighth place finish, trailing Pearl’s 40 points in taking the title from second-place Tupelo.
Hernando finished 10th at state with 293 points and the Tigers were led by Graham Weiss, who was 19th overall in a time of 17:13.82. Jackson Dickerson led Lewisburg with a 29th place result of 17:47.65 as the Patriots took 18th as a team. Center Hill was 22nd and was led by Aaron Penfield in a time of 20:00.78.
