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St. Aloysius' Samantha Edwards (777) runs in the MAIS Class 5A girls Cross Country Championship Monday in Clinton. Edwards, a senior, finished second in the season-ending 5-kilometer race. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Julia Tuminello runs in the MAIS Class 5A girls Cross Country Championship Monday in Clinton. Tuminello, a senior, finished 16th in the season-ending 5-kilometer race. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Samantha Edwards (777) runs alongside East Rankin Academy's Jewel Baker during the MAIS Class 5A girls Cross Country Championship Monday in Clinton. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Simpson Academy's Lilly Overby runs to victory in the MAIS Class 5A girls Cross Country Championship Monday in Clinton. Overby had a time of 18:59 for the 5-kilometer race. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Grace Edwards runs in the MAIS Class 5A girls Cross Country Championship Monday in Clinton. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Caroline Ponder runs in the MAIS Class 5A girls Cross Country Championship Monday in Clinton. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Maria Torres runs in the MAIS Class 5A girls Cross Country Championship Monday in Clinton. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Dalton Windham (792) passes Bayou Academy's Nate O''Neal on the final straightaway at the MAIS Class 5A boys Cross Country Championship Monday in Clinton. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' Cohen Coomes runs in the MAIS Class 5A boys Cross Country Championship Monday in Clinton. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

St. Aloysius' William Roberson runs in the MAIS Class 5A boys Cross Country Championship Monday in Clinton. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Cathedral's Thomas McKnight heads for the finish line to win the MAIS Class 5A boys Cross Country Championship 5-kilometer race Monday in Clinton. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

CLINTON — Samantha Edwards says her philosophy is simple when it comes to competitive running.

“I just like to do my best. If you’re going to do it, why not give it your all?” she said.

Edwards stuck to that creed on Monday and was handsomely rewarded.

The St. Aloysius senior finished her high school cross country career on an outstanding note, with a second-place finish at the MAIS Class 5A Championship at Choctaw Trails.

Edwards clocked a time of 19 minutes, 54 seconds in the 5-kilometer race. Simpson Academy’s Lilly Overby blew away the field to win in 18:59, but Edwards was a comfortable runner-up. The third-place finisher, Audrey Mayatte of East Rankin Academy, was 18 seconds behind her.

Overby, a junior, won her second consecutive individual Class 5A championship.

“I was with (East Rankin Academy’s) Jewel Baker for most of the first lap. Somewhere along the second lap Jewel and Audrey (Mayatte) switched and I stuck with Audrey for most of the second lap,” Edwards said. “She started slowing down and I got her on one of the downhills. I tried to put as much distance between us as I could. She was still pretty close at the end.”

The runner-up finish closed an outstanding season and high school career for Edwards. She won the 2021 MAIS Class 5A championship, and this was her fourth consecutive year to place in the top six at the state meet.

This season, she won four of the seven races she was entered in and finished second in the other three.

“I’m very proud. It’s been hard. It’s been a few setbacks along the way. I’m just glad I’ve been able to finish strong and to be pretty consistent throughout my career,” Edwards said.

Mayatte, Baker and Emma Raines finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively, and their teammate Jensen Baker was seventh as East Rankin won the Class 5A girls team championship with 31 points.

Columbia Academy scored 56 points and finished second, Simpson Academy was third with 102, and St. Al was fourth with 103.

After Edwards, the Lady Flashes’ Julia Tuminello finished in 16th place out of 80 runners with a time of 23:32. Luella Lambiotte was 32nd in 25:49, Edwards’ sister Grace was 47th in 28:59, and Caroline Ponder 48th in 29:04.

In the boys’ Class 5A meet, eighth-grader Asher Rice led St. Al’s pack with a time of 21:03 that was good for 26th place out of 74 runners.

Cohen Coomes finished 31st in 21:37, William Roberson was 37th in 22:10, Dalton Windham was 41st in 22:30, and Andrew Nasif 54th in 23:40.

St. Al totaled 148 points to finish sixth in the boys’ team standings. Simpson Academy had five of the top seven runners and easily won the team title with 24 points. East Rankin was second with 55.

Cathedral’s Thomas McKnight won the individual championship, with a time of 17:49. His teammate Alex Monagan was third, in 18:30.

Porter’s Chapel Academy’s Tyler Hatler finished 49th overall in the Class 3A boys’ race, with a time of 25:06. His teammate John Austin White was 74th in 28:54.

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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