The Bainbridge Bearcats cross-country team won runner-up Thursday at the Region 1-AAAA meet at Bainbridge High School, while the Lady Cats finished strong and qualified for the state meet with a fourth place finish.

The Bearcats had tied for second with Thomas County Central with 69 points. To break the tie, each team’s sixth place runner was counted, putting Bainbridge on top with Grayson Graham’s 19:18 time.

Leading the charge for the Bearcats was Brenden Greene, who crossed the finish line in fifth place with a time of 18:04.

“It was hard a race,” Greene said. “This is the best competition I’ve had all year.”

Shortly behind Greene was Bennett Enfinger, who was neck-and-neck with a Thomas County Central runner on the final stretch before he broke ahead and finished with a time of 18:31.

Perry Waddell finished in 18:58, and Nour Hasona was right behind him with a time of 19:04. Graham crossed the finish line in 19:18 and David Brock rounded out the Bearcats effort with a time of 19:35.

All of the Bearcat runners finished within a span of 1:31.

“I think our team did really good,” Greene said. “It’s the best we’ve done all year.”

Coming in first for the Lady Cats was Uriyah Davis, who finished third overall with a time of 21:57.

Madison Wiggins was behind her with a 24:44 time, followed by Aida Diaz finished in 25:58. Aileen Mejia finished in 25:59, Camry Fillingame finished in 26:04, Skye Walden ran a 26:06 and Caitlin Shephard finished in 26:52.

Both Greene and Davis won medals for their tip finishes in their respective races.

“Region 1-AAAA has teams with excellent cross-country programs,” coach Yvette Greene said. “Both the girls and boys knew they would have to fight hard to qualify for state.  All region runners ran an excellent race. TCC has beat the boys in all but one race this year, and today the boys were determined to beat them at our home course, and they succeeded in that goal.”

The Bearcat and Lady Cat region runners will represent Bainbridge next weekend in the Region 1-AAAA state meet in Carrollton.