West Lauderdale High School cross country runners and siblings Hunter and Alli Walton are often encouraged by each other’s success on the trails, and the twins were doubly motivated Thursday as they both captured first place finishes at the Mississippi High School Athletics Association’s Central Mississippi Super Regionals.
Both West girls and boys cross country teams finished in first place in the team competition at Super Regionals with 11 members named All Regional Runners.
Coach Paul Shelly said despite the hot temperatures Thursday, “the kids ran amazing yesterday, and they had some really amazing times.”
Shelly said early in the season the team continued to train a lot of times through Thursday evening before a weekend race, but have backed off for the last two meets and the runners’ times have shown marked improvement by that extra rest.
Held at the Choctaw Trails, the central regional race was a lead up to the state cross country championships Saturday, Nov. 2, in Clinton.
“I was pretty excited because going into the race, I really didn’t know if I would win or not, so I just went out there to do my best,” said Hunter, a junior at West Lauderdale.
He finished in first place of the 4A boys 5k with a time of 17:12. Altogether, eight West Lauderdale runners finished in the top 25.
Following Hunter in the top 14 were teammates Ryan Thompson, who finished fourth with a time of 17:36; Aaron Walls in fifth place with a time of 17:43; Foster Windham in sixth place with a time of 18:04; Brody Gressett in eighth place with a time of 18:21; Stone Berg, ninth place, with a time of 18:30; and Sawyer Windham in 11th place with a time of 19:55.
Allie finished first place in the 4A girls 5k with a time of 22:10.
“This was my first time in cross country that I won an important meet like this, so I was like really excited because I went into the race just expecting to get at least in the top 5, so actually winning was amazing,” said junior runner Alli.
In all, eight runners finished in the top 25. Following Alli in the top 10 were Nora Peterson, who finished in third place with a time of 23:09; Ruby Fairchild in fifth place with a time of 23:50; Abbie Cruse, sixth place, with a time of 23:59; and Lydia Stewart in eighth place with a time of 24:31.
This is only the second year for the Waltons to be members of the cross country team.
“For a set of twins to be Super Regional Champs is awesome,” Shelly said. “They have really added so much depth to our team and for this to be only their second year running cross country is great.”
Hunter said his cousin, Carter Walton, a 2024 West graduate who was a member of last year’s boys state championship team, convinced him to join cross country with Alli getting involved shortly afterward.
“I like the competition and the friendships I have made with cross country,” Alli said of her enthusiasm for the sport.
Hunter said he likes the challenge of improving on his own personal best time each race because he is basically racing, or competing, against himself to do better each time.
“I like the aspect of improving on my own personal best because it’s like I’m racing myself in every single race,” he said.
On Thursday, both Hunter and Alli’s times were their new personal best finishes.
The twins said having a sibling participating in the same sport can be encouraging during the grueling practices and 5k runs.
“It encourages me to run,” Alli said of their support for each other. “So if he got first in a race, that encourages me to get first in my race, or whatever place he gets.”
West Lauderdale’s boys cross country team is ranked in first place going into the Nov. 2 championship races as they look to defend their state title from last year. The girls team hopes to finish at least as runners up if not win their own state title.
“We are shooting for everybody to run their personal best at state, and if everyone does their best, we will be happy with where we end up,” Shelly said.