Westminster boys and girls finish first in sectionals
Published 5:05 pm Friday, November 4, 2016
By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Staff Writer
LOXLEY – The Westminster School at Oak Mountain continued to show why their cross country teams are considered to be one of the best in the state after yet another dominating performance at the Class 1A/2A Section 1 meet on Nov. 3.
The boys race saw the Knights post their two best times of the year in a 5,000-meter race thanks to eighth-grader Hunter Wright and sophomore John Porterfield who posted times of 17:10.21 and 17:10.86, which bested their previous 5,000-meter time by 30 seconds.
Finishing behind those two were junior Pierce Moffett and freshman Campbell Lemons in fourth and fifth place. Moffett posted a time of 17:52.11, while Lemons finished the race in 17:56.26.
Senior Scott Landers finished in seventh with a time of 18:47.67 to round out the Knight’s five qualifying scores. Westminster finished with a score of 21 to beat out Holy Spirit Catholic High School by 13 and Pleasant Home School by 59.
In the girls’ race, the Knights missed a perfect score by one point after taking four of the top five qualifying spots. Sarah Kate Lipperd, Maddie Hoaglund and Camilla Lemons finished in the top three spots.
Lipperd had one of the better performances of the year for the girls running the race in 20:32.58, while Hoaglund and Lemons weren’t far behind with times of 21:07.21 and 21:16.64. Freshman Arden McCullough and eighth grader Hallie Porterfield finished fifth and seventh, respectively, with times of 21:31.18 and 21:53.59.
Katie Hoaglund and Camryn Neal followed directly behind giving Westminster seven top 10 performers. The girls won 16-47-86 over Holy Spirit Catholic and Pleasant Home School.
Both teams will now move on to the state meet at Moulton Oakville Indian Mounds Park and Museum on Nov. 12 and have a great chance to bring home a state championship.