Phillip Hattaway (554) and Scott Fife (556) of St. Aloysius run behind Vicksburg High’s Nathan Rowland (526) and Warren Central’s Josh Gerache (521) during the Division 2-1A and 3-5A cross country meets Saturday at Warren Central. Below right, WC’s Brad Gaines tries to chase down Clinton’s Derrick Stanley in the boys’ Division 3-5A meet. (The Vicksburg Post/C. todd sherman)

[11/03/02]St. Aloysius warmed up for the defense of its state cross country title in fine fashion on Saturday by winning the Division 2-1A meet at Warren Central.

Phillip Hattaway and Scott Fife finished first and second, respectively, for the Flashes, while Jeremy White was fifth, John David Hosemann was seventh and Daniel Edney was eighth.

St. Al beat out Resurrection, which won the Class 1A state championship in 1999 and 2000 and finished second to St. Al last year, 23-36.

The 2002 state cross country meet will be Saturday at Choctaw Trails in Clinton. Warren Central and Vicksburg will compete in the Class 5A meet in the morning, and St. Al will run in the Class 1A meet at 1:55 p.m.

“We feel like we’re in a really good position now,” St. Al coach Donald Roesch said. “Resurrection is our biggest rival in cross country, and going into state with a win over them is big.”

St. Al’s runners weren’t the only ones to get a big win on Saturday.

Vicksburg High’s Jessica Morris easily won the girls’ Division 3-5A meet, finishing the 2 1/2-mile course in 17 minutes, 29.09 seconds. That was more than 21 seconds ahead of Clinton’s Judy Mitchell, who crossed the line in 17:50.35.

Mitchell and the Lady Arrows won the team title, however, edging Warren Central by a single point, 36-37. VHS was third with 53 points.

WC’s Kimberly Danczyk was third in 17:56.29 and Marcell Moll was sixth in 18:30.87, but Clinton had three runners among the top five finishers.

VHS’ Haley Nosser was ninth, while WC’s Valera Vollor and Kara Cretsinger were 10th and 11th, respectively.

WC’s Brad Gaines couldn’t catch up to Clinton’s Derrick Stanley in the boys’ 3-5A meet. Stanley held off the pesky Viking sophomore to win the individual division title by four seconds and help Clinton to the team title.

The Arrows had three runners among the top six finishers and had 33 points, easily beating VHS, which had 45 points. WC was third with 46 points, despite having two runners among the top four finishers.

Gaines was second for WC in 16:25.83, while A.J. Barnes was fourth in 17:40.49. VHS’ James Wood finished third in 17:30.99, Ben Rowland was seventh in 18:47.17, and Nathan Rowland was ninth in 19:09.36. Josh Gerache crossed the line in 18:55.57 to finish eighth for WC.

St. Al had two runners among the top eight in the girls Division 2-1A meet, but not enough runners to compete for the team title.

The Lady Flashes’ Laura Weeks finished fifth in 19:31.72, while Lauren Fordice was eighth in 20:10.99. Resurrection’s Erin Sanford won the individual title in 16:01.57, and Union won the team title with 15 points.

The Flashes, meanwhile, simply blew away the field in the 2-1A boys’ meet.

Hattaway crossed the line in 16:53.24, more than 13 seconds ahead of Fife. Five of the top eight runners were from St. Al, and the other three were from Resurrection.

“All seven of my guys ran the best races of the year today, time-wise,” Roesch said. “All my kids either ran a personal best or were right on line with their personal best.”

More personal bests would be nice next weekend, Roesch added. But it was more important to remember the main goal at the state meet just win.

“I have to remind them that they don’t have to run a personal best at state. They have to run to win,” Roesch said.