The East Hamilton girs cross country team finished forst at Darlington this past weekend.
photo by Contributed
On a course that was about 200 meters too long for a 5k and with the timers having technical problems with numbers and chips, the 20th Annual Darlington Festival was a cross country race with a start and finish line, and the East Hamilton Lady Hurricanes won it. The Hurricanes placed four in the top ten, with junior Willa Barnes taking 2nd individual honors behind Coosa's Sophia Cook. East Hamilton juniors Ashlyn Shell and Adrianna Huffstuttler each led at various times before Barnes pulled ahead, and their fourth runner, junior Madison Wright, was never far behind.
Despite the extra course length, Hurricanes freshman Autumn Kelman barely held off a competitor from 2nd place team White County (GA) to seal the team victory. Kelman dropped several minutes off her previous best to round out the scoring five, while fellow freshmen Makayla Pfeiffer and Larissa Wolfe ran together as the team's 6th and 7th, finishing with season bests.
The East Hamilton boys were led by a top ten individual finish by senior William Hazell. Host school Darlington won the boys race and Bremen took 2nd.