Published: October 12, 2008 11:26 pm      

Lady Cats eighth in MC Invitational

The ladies from Meridian High School turned in an eighth-place finish in the prestigious Mississippi College Invitational cross-country meet, which was held Saturday at Choctaw Trails in Clinton.

There were 199 individuals and 25 teams competing in Division I (Classes 4A-6A) in the meet, which was won by Tupelo. The Lady Wave had 56 points, followed by Pearl (58) and St. Thomas, La. (84).

Meridian was eighth with 266 points, while West Lauderdale was 14th (384) and Northeast Lauderdale 19th (516).

Individually, Meridian's Bridgett Terrell was 26th with a time of 17:19.15, while Diamond Manuel was 46th, Christin Peters 48th, Kierra Boyd 61st and Taylor Thomas 85th.

Malia Cali of St. Thomas, La., won the girls' 4K title in 14:30.37.

In the Division II girls' meet, Newton High was 12th and Clarkdale 13th.

On the boys' side, Meridian tied for 13th place with Indianola Gentry with 346 points. West Lauderdale was 16th and Northeast 20th. Tupelo (55 points) won first, Pearl (79) was second and West Monroe, La. (124) third.

West Lauderdale's Manuel Granados was the top boys' finisher in the Division I meet, taking 44th in a time of 18:49.24. Arash Taheri of Ridgeland won in 16:17.66.

In the Division II boys meet, Newton County finished 12th, Clarkdale 13th and Newton High 14th.

— Rocky Higginbotham