West Lauderdale High School’s boys cross country team captured first place in the Mississippi High School Activities Association’s 4A state championship Saturday at Choctaw Trails in Clinton, while the girls team finished as state runners up.

The win for the boys team gives them back-to-back state championships after they captured their first cross country team title in varsity program history a year ago.

Other East Mississippi runners also were in the spotlight at the state meets. Neshoba Central High School’s boys cross country team won the 6A state championship, and Enterprise High School seventh grader Halli Clair Helms finished in first place overall in the 3A girls state championships earlier in the week. Enterprise’s Addie Dearman finished in ninth place in the state title race.

“Last year was a surprise when our boys won the meet, but this year we were the favorites which added more pressure. The guys all handled it so well,” said coach Paul Shelly.

In the 4A boys race, Hunter Walton, who was picked to finish in third place, ended up finishing in first place over Caledonia High School’s James Luttrell by three seconds with a time of 17:10.63.

“Coming up the hill to the finish there were three guys neck and neck, but Hunter pulled away and won by three seconds. I’m really proud of the work that he put in over the offseason,” Shelly said. “He is so deserving of this honor.”

Other West runners who were named All State for finishing in the Top 14 were Aaron Walls in sixth place with a time of 17:48.10; Foster Windham, seventh, 17:57.03; Brody Gressett, ninth, 18:00.19; and Stone Berg in 12th place with a time of 18:20.80.

“Foster Windham, our lone senior, has put together four amazing state meet performances, each time running his best race of the season at the time we needed it the most,” Shelly said. “His performance last year was the reason we won the 2023 state meet. He will be missed next year, but if we stay focused and healthy, we like our chances for a three-peat.”

The West girls team ended up in a tie for first place with Caledonia High School, but due to a tie breaker finished as state runners up, Shelly said. The tie breaker comes down to the finish of the team’s sixth runner. Caledonia’s sixth runner finished five spots ahead of West’s.

West’s girls team has finished as state runners-up once before, Shelly said, “but you could definitely say this is the closest we’ve ever been to the state championship.”

“The girls got the day off to a great start. They were picked to finish third in 4A, 25 points behind Caledonia. They all ran awesome races and ended up tying Caledonia with 85 points. Although we lost the tie breaker … we were still thrilled with the outcome,” Shelly said.

Three runners on West’s girls team were named All State. Junior runner Alli Walton finished in eighth place overall with a time of 22:06.30. Eighth-grade runners Nora Peterson finished in 12th place with a time of 22:24.05 and Ruby Fairchild in 13th place with a time of 22:31.68.

With no seniors on the girls team, Shelly said they look forward to next year’s competitions.

“The thing that sticks out for me about this team is they are such a close knit group and so supportive of one another,” he said. “I have watched those relationships grow over the year, and that’s been really gratifying for me to see.”

Shelly applauded both the boys and girls teams for their hard work this season.

“This has been a special group of runners. They’ve done what we’ve asked of them and then some,” he said. “Many of them put in extra miles after practice and run on the days we don’t have practice. They train over the off-season. But most of all, they support and care about one another.”

He also praised his fellow coaches, Misty Atkinson and Cathy Gordon, for their commitment to the students and the team.

“They are so great at working with and motivating our runners,” Shelly said. “They have been integral to our team’s success.”