Fairfield girls, Lynchburg-Clay boys finish runners-up at ’26 SHAC Cross-Country Championships; Huguely wins SHAC boys crown
The Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs are pictured at the SHAC Cross-Country Championships. (Submittted Photos)
The 2026 Southern Hills Athletic Conference Cross-Country Championships were held Saturday at Ripley High School, where from Highland County the Fairfield girls team and the Lynchburg-Clay boys team were runners-up in their respective races.
In the high school girls race, the champions were the West Union Lady Dragons with a score of 24, followed by Fairfield with 45 points. In third place was Eastern (74), followed by North Adams (75) in fourth place, while fifth place went to Ripley (121).
Highland County had seven girls runners place in the Top 15 to earn All-SHAC honors, and they included Fairfield’s Daphne Zink in third place (21:23.7), Lynchburg-Clay’s Lillian Layne in fifth place (21:50.9), Fairfield’s Ellie Reeves in seventh place (22:10.4) and Miley Pierce of Lynchburg-Clay (22:20.8).
Also in the Top 15 from Highland County were Lynchburg-Clay’s Annabelle Thompson in 11th place (22:59.8), Fairfield’s Zoey Niebling in 13th place (23:16.6) and Fairfield’s Laurel McCoy in 14th place (23:22.9).
In the high school boys race, the Eastern Warriors won the SHAC championship with a score of 42, followed by Lynchburg-Clay in second with a score of 46.
The Fairfield Lions were third place in the boys race as they had a score of 76. Fifth place was Peebles (108), followed by West Union in sixth place (124), and in seventh place was Ripley (128).
The girls individual champion was West Union’s Stella Rhonemus with a time of 20:53.5.
Runners who place in the Top 15 earn All-SHAC honors, as Lynchburg-Clay’s Tavion Huguely was the SHAC champion with a time of 16:57.1.
Highland County also had Lynchburg-Clay’s Owen Faust in fourth place (17:58.9), and in 10th place was Lynchburg-Clay’s John Michael with a time of 18:51.0.
The Mustangs also had Glenn Watson place 11th overall at 18:58.8, while Fairfield’s Owen VanDyke finished in 12th place at 19:03.5, giving Highland County five boys runners in the Top 15 to earn All-SHAC honors.
