The James Clemens girls cross country team had a winning start to the season, as the Jets took first place in the varsity girls 4A-7A race at the Brooks High School Cross Country Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 2, at McFarland Park in Florence.

The Jets scored 57 points, comfortably defeating Buckhorn, which finished second with 81 points and Florence, which was third with 104 points.

Points are scored based on where each runner finishes the 5,000-meter race. The better the runner finishes, the lower the number of points he or she receives. Only the top five finishers for each team scores points. The team with the lowest combined points wins the meet.

Elizabeth Holcomb led the way for the Jets by finishing in fourth place overall with a time of 20:31.22. Four other James Clemens runners finished in the top 25, with Samantha Burns finishing 10th, Sydney Freeman coming home 11th, Sarah Shirley 13th and Sabel Mattingly 24th.

East Limestone also competed in the meet, with the team finishing 10th out of 14 teams with 283 points.

Hannah Hayes was the Indians’ leading finisher, coming home 47th in a time of 25:15.51. Meghan Johnson, Zelina Reyes, Alli Haataja and Addison Sargeant also scored points for the Indians.

Boys 4A-7A race

James Clemens finished in third place in the boys 4A-7A race, scoring 71 points. Florence won the meet with 43 points while St. John Paul II was second with 62 points.

Nicholas Holcomb was the Jets’ top finisher, coming home 11th in a time of 18:21.93. Elliott Kliesnar was 13th while Garrett Nix finished 15th, A.J. Sheldrick 17th and Korey Shively 21st.

East Limestone had a respectable performance, finishing in eighth place out of the 14 schools competing, with 233 points.

Eighth grader Angel Reyes was the Indians top finisher, placing 22nd overall with a time of 18:57.61. Chase Richardson and Dylan Irvin scored top 50 finishes in the field of 184 runners, finishing 48th and 49th, respectively. Daniel Torres and Wyatt Howell also scored points for the Indians.

1A-3A races

No Limestone County schools competed as a team in the boys and girls 1A-3A races, although several local runners did compete as individuals.

Brady Anderson, of Lindsay Lane Christian Academy, finished in second place overall in the boys race, coming home with a time of 18:21.15. Two Clements runners also had top 25 finishes, with D.J. Croskey finishing 11th in a time of 20:40.19 and Riley Duncan finishing 24th in a time of 23:07.11.

Garret Mann and Austin Bates also competed for Clements while Luke VanderWal was Lindsay Lane’s other competitor.

Clements also had a top 10 finisher in the girls 1A-3A race, with Darby Moore coming home in eighth in a time of 24:56.86. Victoria Cisca and Daebrion Hamton, also of Clements, finished 20th and 21st, respectively. Alexandra Estrada of Clements and Janna Boydstun of Lindsay Lane also competed in the race.

Volleyball

James Clemens had a good weekend competing in one of the top volleyball tournaments in the state, the Juanita Boddie Tournament at Hoover High School.

The Juanita Boddie Tournament brings out the best volleyball teams in Alabama, with all 10 of the top 10 teams in Class 7A competing, as well as last year’s state champions in 7A, 6A, 4A and 3A.

The Jets defeated Madison County 2-0 before falling to McGill Toolen and Siegel by 0-2 scores. They recovered to defeat Arnold 2-1 to advance out of group play and into the final 16 of the Silver Bracket.

The Jets defeated Houston 2-0 and Grissom 2-0 to reach the semifinals before falling to Buckhorn 2-1. The Jets lost the first set 17-25 before winning the second set 25-16 to force a third set. However, Buckhorn won the third set 15-12 to win the match.

Clements and West Limestone also played tournament volleyball last weekend, playing in the West Morgan Varsity Invitational.

The Colts dropped their opening game to Danville 2-0 before defeating Russellville 2-0. Clements dropped its next game to Deshler 2-0 before falling in a hard-fought game against Cullman by a 2-1 score.

The Wildcats didn’t have as much success, dropping all four of their games in the tournament. West Limestone fell to Winston County and New Hope by 2-0 scores before falling to Decatur 2-1 and host team West Morgan 2-0.