By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

TUSCALOOSA – Both the boys and girls cross-country teams at Pelham High School qualified for the 6A state championship meet on Nov. 14 with top-three finishes at the 6A Section 4 meet that took place on Nov. 5. The boys’ team finished in third place, missing out on the No. 2 slot by six points to John Carroll Catholic while the girls team also finished in third, easily outstripping the fourth-place Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa team by 58 points.

Mary Grace Strozier once again led the way for Pelham, winning the section meet by almost 20 seconds with a time of 19:34.15. Strozier was also the fastest Lady Panther by over two minutes, as her younger sister, freshman Katie Strozier, finished in ninth place overall with a time of 21:36.14. Jordan Allison, Perla Buendia-Pichardo and Alex Wilkins rounded out the rest of the top five scorers for the Lady Panthers as they finished the meet with an average time of 22:04.00.

Strozier has run the third-fastest time this season in the state of Alabama at 18:26.39. She also has the fastest time in 6A by 31.01 seconds and is the odds-on favorite to take home first place at the 6A state meet.

In the boys race, Pelham’s top two finishers Peyton Strickland and Robby Letson beat all John Carroll Catholic runners. Strickland ran a 17:50.51, finishing in third place while Letson finished in 18:06.99, good for fourth. The next Pelham finisher did not cross the finish line, however, until all five of the Cavaliers’ scoring runners were finished. Jacob Colvert, Robert Plummer and Drayton Cullen all finished in a clump at 20^th, 21^st and 24^th place overall to round out the scoring for the Panthers.

Pelham’s had an average finish time of 18:54, which was only three seconds off of John Carroll Catholic’s pace.