The Southern Middle School boys and girls finished in first place at last Thursday’s middle school cross country meet held at Southern Middle.

The other schools participating in the 2-mile races were: West Pine, New Century, Sandhills Classical Christian, O’Neal, Cranes Creek and Pope John Paul II. A total of 80 boys and 59 girls participated.

Five schools were represented by the top-10 finishers in the boys’ race.

They were: Xavier Barrett (SM) 12:51, Anthony Munoz (NC) 12:58, Ryan Baer (SCC) 13:00, Preston Williams (WP) 13:27, Nixon Mower (SM) 13:30, Seth Kimpler (NC) 13:31, John Grimm (ON) 13:40, Robin Berthelette (WP) 13:42, Isaiah McGilvary (SM) 13:46 and Jesse Ingham (ON) 13:57.

The team scores for the boys were Southern Middle 31, West Pine 40 and New Century 61. Some of the teams did not have the required five contestants to post a team result.

The winner of the girls’ race was Pope John Paul II seventh-grader Isabel Flores with a time of 13:21.

The remainder of the first 10 included: Christianna McLain (NC) 14:06, Riley Barrett (JPII) 14:30, Sophie Casey (WP) 14:45, Sarah Darrel (SM) 14:54, Anya Joyce (WP) 14:54, Madison Peterson (NC) 15:38, Malia Naumchik (SM) 15:40, Laney Rivers (NC) 15:49 and Lisa Alers-Hankey (SM) 15:56.

The close team results for the girls were: Southern Middle 49, New Century 54, West Pine 55 and Pope John Paul II 65.