By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

ALABASTER – On Sept. 3, The Thompson Warriors cross-country team hosted a six-team, shortened two-mile race to ease into the season. Mountain Brook, Homewood, Hewitt-Trussville, Woodlawn and Pell City all brought runners to take part in the event.

Of these schools, two are in Thompson’s section in Mountain Brook and Hewitt-Trussville, both of which qualified for the 2014 state meet and finished third and sixth in the boys’ 7A state meet respectively. Mountain Brook also won the girls’ 7A state championship last year. Homewood by comparison won the 6A boys’ state championship in 2014 and placed second in the girls’ state championship, missing out on first place by just 11 points to John Carroll Catholic.

Mountain Brook won the boys meet at Thompson High School on Sept. 3 by 19 points over Homewood. Hewitt-Trussville came in third, 22 points behind the Patriots, while Thompson finished fourth, 37 points behind Hewitt-Trussville. Brandon DeMarcus Lee was the top finisher for Thompson with a time of 11:31.63 in the two-mile event, good enough for 13^th overall, while Christian Anderton came in 23^rd with a time of 11:55.35 to lead the way for the Warriors.

The Lady Warriors came in fifth out of five teams, and the top performer was Zoe Benz, who came in 34^th overall with a time of 16:06.46 to lead the way for Thompson from the girls’ side.