Area runners competing in north-south cross-country skiing

Messenger file photo by Chris McCarthy

Three local high school juniors were recently selected to compete in July’s AHSAA North-South All-Star Cross Country Race at Montgomery’s Gateway Park.
Glencoe’s Katie Giles (pictured above) has been called up to the girls’ side, while Southside’s Jackson Griggs and Ashville’s Joe Stevens have been called up to the boys’ side.
Giles won the Class 3A State Championship as a sophomore in 2020. She placed 11th out of 155 runners. Stevens won the Class 4A cross-country title last November, while Griggs finished ninth out of 248 runners in Class 6A. All three runners won their respective county cross country meetings last season.
Joining Giles on the North Girls list are Hatton’s Brenda Aranda, Fort Payne’s Anahi Barboza, Hewitt-Trussville’s Sophia Knox, Indian Springs’ Elise Picard, Mountain Brook’s Reagan Riley and Clark Stewart, and Olivia Marsh, Savannah Williams and Taylor Williams
of Lawrence County. Joining Stevens and Griggs on the boys’ team are Jack Bradford of Athens Bible, Michael Clark and Clayton Collins of Mountain Brook, Carson Godwin of Lawrence County, Jackson Howse of Randolph, Will Jordan of Vestavia Hills, Cayden Nelson of Pleasant Valley and Tristan Teer of Hewitt-Trussville.