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Cathedral High's Ryan Skates runs during the Cathedral Invitational on Monday. Skates won the boys 5K race with a time of 16:58. (Patrick Murphy | The Natchez Democrat)

Natchez High's Miracle Morris runs during the girls 5K race at the Cathedral Invitational on Friday. (Patrick Murphy | The Natchez Democrat)

Adams County Christian School's Rebecca Ratcliff runs during the Cathedral Invitational on Monday. (Patrick Murphy | The Natchez Democrat)

Cathedral High's Barrett Burget runs in front of Natchez High's Zehlin Cornett during the Cathedral Invitational on Monday. (Patrick Murphy | The Natchez Democrat)

The Cathedral High School boys cross-country team after winning the Cathedral Invitational on Monday. Back row from left are Tommy Smith, Drew Thompson, Zack Mann, Ryan Skates, Barrett Burget, Cade Eidt, Liam Blackburn and Hartley Pyron. Front row from left is Joseph Garrity. (Patrick Murphy | The Natchez Democrat)

NATCHEZ — The Cathedral High School Green Wave boys cross-country team won the Cathedral Invitational on Monday night at Duncan Park Golf Course.

Eight teams with a total of 44 girls and 50 boys competed in varsity 5K races at the Cathedral Invitational.

Cathedral High School’s Ryan Skates won the boys race in 16:58. Skates said it was his best time on the course and he loves running at the Cathedral Invitational every year.

“It is my favorite race every year because it is a good course and we have nice weather,” Skates said.

Christian Parks of Clinton Christian Academy finished in second place (17:16) and Dale Slay from Oak Forest Academy finished in third (18:32). Skates, Hartley Pyron, Zack Mann and Joseph Garrity all placed in the top 10 for the Green Wave at the invitational.

Pyron finished sixth (18:53), Mann in seventh (19:30) and Garrity finished 10th (19:49). Tommy Smith, Cathedral head coach, said he couldn’t be happier with Cathedral’s performance at the invitational.

“The team ran well today and they stepped up,” Smith said. “Oak Forest Academy is the favorite to beat us at state this year and the scores are very close. I think today was a fair heads up that gave the team confidence going into state.”

The Green Wave won the invitational with 31 points, Oak Forest Academy was in second with 47 points and St. Aloysius was third with 81 points.

The Natchez High School Bulldogs boys cross-country team finished with 107 points. Zehlin Cornett led the Bulldogs with a 19th finish (20:50). Larry Wesley, Natchez High School head cross-country coach, said he was proud of the Bulldogs’ performance in only their second race of the season.

“Cornett did pretty good and I think he could have done better with more training,” Wesley said. “But he did better than I thought. It is the beginning for the team.”

Cathedral High’s next race is on Oct. 13 at the Columbia Invitational in Magee. Smith said the Green Wave would focus on running as a group before Monday’s race.

Girls 5K race

Columbia Academy won the girls race on a tie between St. Aloysius with 34 points and Oak Forest Academy finished with 55 points for third.

Charlee Brees Franks of Columbia Academy won the girls race (20:39.80), followed by Chloe Schexnayder of Oak Forest Academy (20:53.00) and Nancy Clement of St. Aloysius (20:56.10) rounded out the top 3.

The Adams County Christian School Lady Rebels finished with 56 points out of two runners. Rebecca Ratcliff led the Lady Rebels with a 16th finish (25:52.30) and said it felt good to finish in the top 20. Curtlien Griffin finished 40th (33:41.00) for ACCS.

The Natchez High School Lady Bulldogs finished in fifth out of eight teams with 135 points. Miracle Morris led the Lady Bulldogs with a 35th finish (30:05.70) out of 44 girls and earned 24 points for the Lady Bulldogs. Kaniyah Hunt finished 36th (30:14.50) and earned 25 points for Natchez.

Natchez High School’s next race is at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday at Natchez High School. Wesley said the Bulldogs would focus on running hills before Thursday’s race against Port Gibson High School, Jefferson County High School, Crystal Springs High School, South Pike and Wilkinson County High School.

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