By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

DECATUR – Thompson’s Brandon DeMarcus Lee continues to be one of the hottest cross country runners of the 2017 season after his first place finish at the DEW it on the Trails race hosted at Point Mallard in Decatur on Saturday, Oct. 14.

The event saw four county teams in Spain Park, Thompson, Chelsea and Pelham all compete with the Jaguars finishing highest in the team standings, but nobody was able to top Lee’s time of 15:52.20.

According to Alabamarunners.com, the win not only marked his third of the year and his sixth top seven finish in as many events, but also a personal record. His previous record according to the website was 15:58.01 set in his last race, the Jesse Owens Classic.

Lee, just a junior, has now run three consecutive sub-16 minute 5Ks in a row and has finished first in three of his last four races.

As a team, the Warriors finished in fifth with 118 total points as four runners were inside the top 35.

Behind Lee was another promising young runner in sophomore Jace Jones who finished in 13^th with a time of 16:25.70, which also marked a new personal best for him. He has now finished inside the top 15 in four of his six events this year.

Seniors Jacob Wyatt and Thomas Cousins were the other two top-35 finishers finishing in 24^th and 33^rd, respectively. Wyatt finished with a time of 16:52.90, while Cousins crossed the finish line at 17:15.30.

Just ahead of Thompson in the overall standings was Spain Park, who finished in fourth with a total of 106 points. The Jaguars have steadily impressed this season and now have back-to-back top-4 finishes at the right time of the year.

The Jags’ strong performance was led by three runners in the top 20 and seven in the top 40.

Junior Jacob Warner was the only top-10 finisher of those seven as he took eighth with a time of 16:17.90. Cole Dillard and Charlie Trower were the other two top-20 finishers as Dillard took 17^th with a time of 16:38.50 and Trower took 20^th with a time of 16:42.90.

Isaac Shore finished inside the top 30 as the senior took 27^th with a time of 17:00.50.

Morgan Becker, Kai Ozug and EJ Moses finished in 34^th, 36^th and 40^th, respectively, to close out the seven top 40 finishers. Becker and Ozug, both seniors, finished with times of 17:17.10 and 17:23.40, respectively.

Moses, a junior, finished with a time of 17:30.50. Elijah McKinley also finished inside the top 50 taking 50^th on the nose with a time of 17:43.00.

Chelsea and Pelham finished in 13^th and 14^th, respectively, in the overall team standings. Chelsea was led by Cade Neuberger, TJ Gennari and Kyle Frangopoolis.

Neuberger finished in 68^th with a time of 18:07.80, while Genarri took 86^th with a time of 18:21.40 and Frangopoolis took 96^th with a time of 18:40.10.

Pelham was highlighted by none other than junior Adam Keller, who finished in 21^st with a time of 16:45.20. Keller has yet to finish outside the top 30 this season and has three top-15 finishes.