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JACKSON — Cathedral High School’s boys’ and girls’ track and field teams had respectable team and individual finishes in Class 5A at the 2023 MAIS Overall State Track Meet last weekend — especially considering the competition the Green Wave faced off against.

Both of Cathedral’s teams finished in ninth place in the team competition with the Green Wave racking up 32 points and the Lady Green Wave ending up with 24 points.

“We’re never in the running for a state championship. We just don’t have the numbers to compete for a state tile,” Cathedral track coach Tommy Smith said. “We probably finished right in the middle, eighth or ninth, overall. When you go to State, finishing in the middle and snagging some good results is pretty good for us.”

Smith noted that in the MAIS Overall State Meet, all the private school  field events took place at Jackson Academy and the running events were staged at Jackson Preparatory School.

Maddie Verucchi had the only first-place finish for either the girls’ or boys’ teams as she won the girls’ 800-meter run with a time of 2:25.77. The girls’ 4×800-meter relay team of Lizzie Verucchi, Allie Grace Mcgehee, Lillie Bertelsen, and Maddie Verucchi came in second place with a time of 10:12.64.

Liza Gregg ended up in fourth place in the girls’ discus with a throw of 96 feet and 11 inches.

Owen Bertelsen had the best individual finish for Cathedral’s boys’ team as he wound up in third place in the boys’ 800-meter run with a time of 2:05.05. Kaden Batieste finished fourth in the long jump with a jump of 19 feet and 9.50 inches. Tris McCoy came in fifth in the boys’ 100-meter dash with a time of 11.19 seconds while Kentrell Mackel ended up in fifth place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 55.68 seconds.