Wiliam Porr Breaks Course Record In Mobile; Mallory Helms Wins Girls Race

Story and Photos By Arthur L. Mack for DyeStat

MOBILE, Ala. (August 31) —  While the field was smaller than in years past, the competition was still fierce in the 33rd annual Mobile Challenge of Champions Cross Country Meet held at Mobile’s Langan Park.

Scheduling issues prevented many of the out-of-town teams, particularly Louisiana schools, from participating, but the competition was no less keen.

Mobile St. Paul’s Episcopal showed strong team balance in winning the Invitational boys and girls team titles.

St. Paul’s boys overcame a meet and course record run by McGill-Toolen’s William Porr to defeat the Yellow Jackets 50-74.

Porr fought off an early challenge by St. Paul’s Daniel Gill and won in 15 minutes, 35.12 seconds, two seconds under the old course record. 

Ocean Springs MS was third with 86 points and Saraland (122) and UMS-Wright (139) rounded out the top five.

St. Paul’s Episcopal placed four runners in the top 15 and defeated McGill-Toolen Catholic for the girls team title, 34-42. Spanish Fort was third (84), while St. Patrick Catholic of Biloxi (102) and St. Michael Catholic (133) rounded out the top five.

Individually, UMS-Wright’s Mallory Helms took top honors, winning in 19:33 57.

Not surprisingly, St. Paul’s head coach John Brigham was pleased with both teams' performances.

“I was really proud with how the teams competed today, especially the girls,” he said. “They’ve been running really strong, and in the second meet of the season that’s really good to see. It just shows that we really have good strength and we’re looking to build on that this season.

“I think this is the first time in a long time we’ve won the invitational division, so I’m hoping this can give the girls some kind of confidence and help us even more in the next race.”

Porr broke away in the boys race with less than a mile to go and dug down deep to get the course record. 

“He (Gill) helped me to get through the first mile,” Porr said. “At the 4K mark, my dad and Evan Wright's (former St. Paul’s runner) told me I had a chance at the record. Usually, I don’t have a kick, but my legs went lactic at the 2K mark and I decided to let the momentum carry me.”

Bella Graves from Ocean Springs, one of the pre-race favorites, led for most of the girls race with Helms about 50 meters behind. Helms, however, chipped away at the deficit and took advantage of Graves tripping with less than a half mile to go.

“She tripped and fell, and that’s when I passed her,” Helms said. “I really felt so bad for her, because I don’t know if I would’ve caught her or not. In the first mile, I didn’t feel my best, but I kept on trying to reel in the first-place girl.”

Mobile area teams also had success in the open division, with Baker winning the boys title with 68 points, well ahead of Pascagoula MS (102). Three other Mississippi schools, Ocean Springs (103), Pass Christian (105) and Gautier (119) rounded out the top five. Pascagoula's Eli Seaton outkicked Baker’s Tyler Harris, 17:10.41 to 17:12.10, to take individual honors.

“I never back down from a challenge. When he (Harris) started sprinting, I started sprinting,” Seaton said.

Saraland came within a point of having a perfect score in the open girls division. A 1-2-3-4-6 finish, led by Mallary Little’s first place (20:51.68) gave the Spartans 16 points, well ahead of second-place Gulfport MS (89). 

Little led from the opening gun, with teammates Teresa Ye, Ava Kelly, and Anaya Benefield not far behind. They finished in that order, with Anne Hattox getting the number six spot, just behind Gulfport's Ava Benefield.

“After the first mile, I knew I had to keep going,” Little said. “I knew I had to keep pushing, and that was the key to us winning. Our coach pushes us, and we’ve been working hard all season. We were going in thinking we were going to do well.”