The Choctaw County High School boys won the Eagle Claw Junior High School Cross Country Invitational hosted by Eupora High School with five runners in the top 13. “I was tickled with my little guys,” said coach Andy Young. Seth Miller was third in 13:56.34 for the two mile race. John Reese Staten finished fourth in 14:17.18, Brodie Arnault fifth in 14:17.32, Allen Landrum 11th in 14:47.99, Collier Easily 13th in 14:55.01, Tate Miller 20th in 15:45.90 and Anderson Chamblee 32nd in 19:05.87. Choctaw County had one competitor in the boys varsity race, Hunter Smith 63rd in 27:08.49, and one in the girls junior high race, Emma Weeks 25th in 23:43.63. Young plans to keep his boys junior high team together for the MHSAA Middle School Classic October 13 at Choctaw Trails in Jackson, site of the state meet 16 days later, then have his eighth graders join the varsity. Runners cannot run in the middle school race if they have competed in any varsity meets. Seth Miller, Tate Miller, Staten, Arnault, Landrum and Chamblee are all eighth graders. MHSAA has established qualifying rules for this year's state meet to decrease the number of participants due to the pandemic. A team must compete in at least three meets to be eligible. Young is not sure if he will be able to get in three meets between the middle school and varsity races.
