CLINTON &045; Even for a rebuilding year, Huntington’s Lady Hounds found a way to make things quite interesting.

The Lady Hounds couldn’t nab a third straight cross country state championship but wound up a close second behind DeSoto. Huntington had three named All-MPSA by finishing in the top 10 on the 2-mile course, but DeSoto was able to be just a bit better Tuesday at Mississippi College’s Choctaw Trails by finishing with 43 points to Huntington’s 48.

Huntington’s boys also finished second. In Class AA, Trinity’s boys finished third and Trinity’s girls were fourth.

&uot;We did about as well as we could do,&uot; Huntington head coach Penny Moak said. &uot;It was kind of a rebuilding year for us. I had 14 girls, and for seven of them this was their first year. They did well. Most all of them come back next year.&uot;

Emily Anders was the top finisher for the Lady Hounds in 15:27 and one of the three to get into that top 10. Marie Miller was seventh in 15:46, and Katie Gray was 10th in 15:59.

DeSoto had runners finish third, fifth and 11th to move into the top spot. Veritas was third with 52 but had the top individual time with Sarah Story winning it in 14:03, a time some 30 seconds better than the second-place time.

Other results for Huntington were Sarah Loomis in 15th at 16:30, Mollye Ashmore in 20th at 16:56, Julie Moak in 21st at 16:58, Brittany Keahey in 25th at 17:44, Sonni Swilley in 26th at 17:55, Krystal Arnold in 28th at 18:12, Brianna Olds in 31st at 18:22, Jessica Patterson in 38th at 19:48, Donna Tarver in 42nd at 28:29, Sarah Hoover in 44th at 22:10 and Bethany Morace in 45th at 22:27.

The Hounds had three qualify as All-MPSA and finished in second with 57 points behind Ben’s Ford with 48. Chad Kenney was their time as he came in second in 21:11 behind Ben’s Ford runner Ruben Passman, who ran a 20:49.

Drew Loomis came in sixth at 22:28, and Nolan Rabb was ninth in 24:08. Corey Gray would have finished 10th in a time of 24:08, but he was disqualified just before the end of the race for taking off his shirt.

&uot;The boys are young, too,&uot; Moak said. &uot;They’ll all be back next year. This is only our second year to have a guys’ team. I’m real pleased with them. They did well. They were pretty bummed because they didn’t win it, but second place is not bad.&uot;

Other Huntington results were Hunter Norwood in 21st at 26:30, Cash Rabb in 24th at 27:10 and Jordan Patterson in 25th at 27:24.

In the Class AA race, Trinity’s boys finished third after claiming the Class A state title the last two seasons. Austin Green led the way by finishing fourth overall to earn his fourth straight All-MPSA honor, but the Saints finished with 91 points behind Chamberlain-Hunt’s 50 and Silliman’s 36.

The team was also without two key legs of last year’s championship team, Wesley Davis and Scott Hanson. Green ran a time of 19:09, while Copiah’s Eric Walker won the race in 18:11.

&uot;It was so humid,&uot; Trinity coach Mason Green said. &uot;The temperature was 84, and the humidity was 75 percent. You could sit there and sweat. Austin lost a minute on his normal time.&uot;

Other Trinity participants were Will Godfrey in 17th at 21:13, Jon-Davis King in 19th at 21:31, Chas Moroney in 20th at 21:51, Stewart Mophett in 34th at 23:52, Hayden Butts in 47th at 25:21, Alex Barnes in 48th at 25:22, Jared McPhate in 65th at 30:02 and Matthew Rymer in 76th at 34:08.

&uot;Chas is only in the seventh grade, and he was 20th,&uot; Mason Green said. &uot;Jon-Davis will be back next year &045; he’ll be a junior. Austin will be in the 11th grade. All those guys are young, so we should be pretty strong next year.&uot;

In girls, Mallory Archer led the way for the Lady Saints as the only one to earn All-MPSA honors as she finished sixth in 14:25 in the 2-mile race. Trinity finished in fourth with 94 points with Brookhaven’s 90 points in third, Silliman’s 57 in second and Simpson Academy’s 19 points to win it.

Other results were Caroline Ketchings in 20th place at 15:26, Jheri Ogden in 22nd at 15:33, Mary Catherine Iles in 23rd at 15:40, Molly Butts in 26th at 16:06, Melanie Hurt in 28th at 16:16, Carolyn Mullins in 31st at 16:27, Molly Feltus in 34th at 16:35, Hannah Vines in 35th at 16:42, Sandy Hall in 36th at 16:43, Madelyn Cross in 43rd at 17:07, Brittany McCalip in 50th at 17:35 and Eliza Jones in 51st at 17:37.

Simpson Academy dominated the race by occupying the top four spots. Julie Little won it in 12:33.