Columbia Academy hosted the 14th annual Caleb Coleman Invitational cross country meet Oct. 11. The event has continued to grow year after year, this time around featuring 27 local schools and nearly 400 participants.
The event began in 2009 but was renamed by head coach Duane Powell in 2012 to honor Coleman, a former CA student and cross country runner who tragically passed away in a car accident.
In the home-school division, the Pearl River Raging Raptors brought home first place overall for the girls, and the Coastal Mississippi Wildcats earned first place for the boys. The girls from Simpson Academy won first place in the varsity division, while Cathedral Unit School edged out the rest of the pack for first place among all boys teams. Representing Marion County on the podium for individual awards was Columbia Academy's Charlee Brees Franks, who finished her race with a time of 21:07.60.
The “Just on Time Award,” which is given to the runner who comes closest to Caleb Coleman’s personal record of 19:48 at the 2011 State Championship, was awarded to Cathedral Unit School's Landon French, who finished with a time of 19:43.70.
Columbia Academy had 11 runners out with the flu the day of the event, and neither the boys nor the girls had enough participants to score as a team. Five runners are required to be scored. The Cougars had only two boys and four girls competing. The first Lady Cougar to cross the finish line was Madelyn McKenzie in sixth with a time of 22:13.20, and the top finisher for CA's boys was Braden Ladd in 14th with a time of 19:58.00.
"It was a very disappointing day for us team wise," head coach Duane Powell said. "The flu jumped on us big time. All but six of our 17 runners were out, and one of them went home sick right after the race. She tested positive for the flu the next day. Hopefully no one else will get sick and we can recover for the championships in less than two weeks.
"On the bright side, the meet was a huge success. We had one of the largest number of runners we’ve ever had, and everything went smoothly."
The MAIS State Championship will be held on Monday, Oct. 24 at Choctaw Trails in
Clinton.
