State Meet

11/9/02 at Choctaw Trails, Clinton, Mississippi
very muddy, warm and humid -- 5k for boys, 4k girls

Complete results on MHSAA web site

summary by Lynn Holland

Summary results from various sources including the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal and Jackson Clarion-Ledger

5A
Tupelo dominated the Mississippi 5A State Championship Saturday morning in Clinton. The girls finished with a team score of 27 compared to second place Gulfport's 54 points. The boys team score of 32 blew away Ocean Springs, who could only manage 80 points.

Both teams dominated all the way to the seventh runner. On the girls side, Tupelo put five runners on the All State team, with Emily Crow in second place, Natalie Holland third place, Hannah Weatherly sixth place, Lydia Rice seventh place, and Caitlin Marlin tenth place. Casey Vinson and Morgan Sullivan, just missed the top 14 with Casey finishing 16th and Morgan 18th, but both were ahead of Gulfport's 4 and 5 runners and ahead of third place Ocean Springs' 3, 4 and 5.

On the boys side, Brett Marlin finished second overall with Robert Scribner third, Scott Duncan fifth, and Mike Weeks seventh. Andrew Rulewicz, Alex Brown and Anthony Campbell were 15th, 20th and 25th, respectively, all of which beat the number 5 from Ocean Springs.

Tim Sayers of Ocean Springs won the boys' individual 5A state title, winning in 16:41.85. Gulfport's Nikitta Smith captured the 5A girls' championship with a winning time of 16:08.34. These were also the fastest times of the day for all classifications.

4A
Pearl boys outscored St. Stanislaus 34-68 for a fourth consecutive Class 4A state title. Junior Brandon Cook, senior Shawn Stevenson, freshman Scotty Pulliam, senior Stephen Lyles and freshman Jeremy Steele all finished in the top 10 for Pearl, which has a 34-meet winning streak against Mississippi foes dating back to 1999.

Charles Covington's Saltillo squad won the closest team competition of the day, edging Pearl 53-55 in Class 4A girls. Eighth grader Kayla Hauss gave the Lady Tigers their first individual state titlist.

Twin seventh graders Heather and Haleigh Moore finished second and fifth, respectively. Pearl had two to finish in the top six and a trio of runners in a pack for the final scoring positions. The difference came when Saltillo's Cassie Bailey edged Lauren Egger of Ridgeland for 10th place. Saltillo won its fourth straight girls state title, the first two of which came as a Class 3A school.

3A
Pontotoc swept, with the boys beating Corinth 26-55 for a sixth straight title and the girls downing Itawamba AHS 30-61 to repeat. Pontotoc coach Mike Bain has won 25 state titles. The Lady Warriors, paced by Brittani Boatwright's second-place finish, had four runners to finish in the top six. Two-time individual champion Abbey Graham was not as fortunate, falling victim to the soggy course and finishing a disappointing 24th.

Pontotoc's boys were led by Kelvin Miles and Matt Whitesides' second and third place finishes, respectively, and placed five runners in the top nine.

2A
St. Andrew's continued its dominance, with the boys outscoring Leflore County 19-71 for a seventh straight title and the girls outscoring Our Lady Academy 34-53 for a ninth consecutive crown.
Junior Laura Mortimer, eighth-grader Catherine Thomas, freshman Leslie Wells, sophomore Hope Clay and senior Ashley Wells paced St. Andrew's.

1A
St. Aloysius beat Resurrection 31-54 for a second straight boys title and Myrtle topped Nanih Waiya 19-81 for the girls title. Sheena Hall - shooting for a fourth straight 1A individual title - ran the last mile with a pulled quadricep.
At the 1 and 1/2 mile mark, Hall began to hurt and dropped off the pace but encouraged her teammates to keep going. Erin Sanford of Resurrection won the race, but Myrtle took the second, third and fourth spots. Hall crossed the finish line ninth, as the Lady Hawks came within four points of a perfect score of 15.

The top teams based on average times were Tupelo boys and girls. The scorers were as follows:

Tupelo girls:
Emily Crow 8th grade 2nd 16:41
Natalie Holland 8th grade 3rd 17:18
Hannah Weatherly 9th grade 6th 17:40
Lydia Rice 9th grade 7th 17:40
Caitlin Marlin 7th grade 10th 17:51
Average time: 17:26
Coaches: David Bakley and Scott Brown

Tupelo boys:
Brett Marlin 12th grade 2nd 17:06
Robert Scribner 11th grade 3rd 17:30
Scott Duncan 12th grade 5th 17:49
Mike Weeks 10th grade 7th 18:02
Andrew Rulewicz 11th grade 15th 18:44
Average time: 17:50
Coaches: David Bakley and Scott Brown

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