WC’s Collins earns all-state honors
Published 12:00 am Sunday, November 2, 2008
CLINTON — Trimming nearly a minute off her race time from last year’s state meet was enough to land Warren Central’s Condrea Collins on the Class 5A All-State team at the 2008 Mississippi High School Activities Association’s Cross Country meet Saturday morning at Choctaw Trails.
Collins finished 12th in the Class 5A girls meet over the wood-shaded course. The junior, who placed 22nd last year in 17 minutes, nine seconds, ran a 16:22 this time, beating out two eighth graders from Madison Central by two seconds. The top 14 runners in each class earn all-state honors.
Maggie McFerrin, the Tupelo High homecoming queen from Friday night, nudged past her teammate Katherine Steinman to win the 5A girls gold medal. Tupelo had five girls in the top eight and totaled 22 points while Madison Central was second with 97. Warren Central was 10th with 265 points.
Coming into the second clearing, Collins was alone in 15th place, one place out of making all-state.
“I thought that was a pretty good place to be at that point in the race,” WC coach Chad McMullin said. “She made her push from that point and got all-state.”
Collins said she knew it was time to make a move, regardless what her body was saying to her.
“It was time to start speeding up but my body was saying ‘I’m hurting.’ I just had to push myself past it,” Collins said.
“I was hoping to break 16 minutes, but the 16:08 is close, almost a minute better than last year’s meet. I was recovering from an injury last year, so I knew I’d be better today. I was 12th. I met my goal,” she said.
Behind Collins, WC had three eighth graders and one freshman finish within the top 75.
St. Aloysius runner Cicily Chiarito crossed the line fifth in the 1A race with a time of 17:51, leading her team to a fourth-place finish. Anna Haygood finished 18th, Kaykay Derossette finished 29th, Ann Ferrell Cauthen came in 33rd and Hannah Campbell rounded out the Lady Flashes’ effort in 55th place.
In the 1A boys race, John Ingram finished 11th with a time of 19:22 to pace the Flashes to a fourth-place finish. Chris Ingram was next in 17th, Blake Haygood finished 19th and Morgan Stone was 24th to give the Flashes four in the top 25.