May River’s girls finished second and the boys third, and both Bluffton teams were fourth at the Class 3A Lower State cross country qualifier Saturday in Darlington.
Both May River and Bluffton squads qualified for next week’s Class 3A state championship race at Sandhills Research Center in Columbia, while both Battery Creek teams fell short of the qualifying cutoff.
The Sharks finished with 58 points in the girls team standings, 13 behind champion Waccamaw. Three May River runners finished in the top five with third-place finisher Emma Peluso leading the way in 20:16.
Bluffton placed two runners in the top eight in the boys race, including third-place finisher Armando Jimenez (16:57), but the Sharks edged the Bobcats with superior depth, as all five of their scoring runners placed between 14th and 34th.
Class 3A Boys
May River (3rd): 14. Jaxon Beebe 17:38; 17. Cody Corbin 17:44; 21. Tristan Kaplan 17:56; 26. Owen Andrews 18:12; 34. John Rosenblum 18:31; 39. Sean Hamby 18:36; 43. Brandon Beck 18:43.
Bluffton (4th): 3. Armando Jimenez 16:57; 8. John Sutay 17:18; 15. Branden White 17:40; 40. Peyton Decker 18:39; 53. Jonathan McCants 19:02; 63. Nicholas Cunningham 19:27.
Battery Creek (17th): 70. Chris Hernandez 19:39; 79. Dominique Royal 19:53; 102. Brendan Moore 20:53; 105. Davion Atkins 21:13; 121. Elijah Stephens 22:14; 131. Wesley French 23:13; 132. Elijah McKay 23:22.
Class 3A Girls
May River (2nd): 3. Emma Peluso 20:16; 4. Victoria Sosa 20:19; 5. Madison Lewellen 20:21; 11. Gracyn Drury 21:03; 35. Fabiana Ribera 22:25; 52. Sadie Flemetis 23:24; 58. Anna Camden Shirley 23:46.
Bluffton (3rd): 6. Perla Jimenez 20:42; 13. Liza Malcolm 21:14; 19. Kelsey Brandt 21:22; 27. Megan Burriss 21:44; 29. Jennyfer Rodriguez 22:05; 30. Kaitlyn McDonagh 22:05; 53. Rachel Riddle 23:27.
Battery Creek (13th): 40. Adriana Heath 22:50; 41. Gabrielle Huggins 22:53; 46. Brilie Barker 23:08; 85. Taaliyha Preston 26:00; 94. Abigail McKay 26:54; 110. Zoe Huggins 30:49.