NATCHEZ — The rain held off just long enough for the Natchez High School Invitational cross country meet to occur Tuesday afternoon.

Out of the five schools that participated in the meet, Cathedral placed first in the varsity girls group.

Natchez finished second with North Pike coming in third.

“It was a good meet today,” Natchez coach Larry Wesley said. “Pam Selman did a terrific job for us.”

Selman placed first overall in the individual category.

The Natchez High varsity boy’s finished three points shy of first place McComb.

“Natchez had two runners place in the top three. Sophomore Mario Williams took first running the five kilometers in just over 20 minutes.

“I started off at a steady pace,” Williams said. “When there are others in front of me, I use them as motivation to make a pass. After that, they can’t keep up with me.”

Williams said the weather cooling down due to the storm helped him.

“Mario was the biggest surprise,” Wesley said. “This is his first year to run track. He did outstanding today and ran with a lot of heart.”

The other Bulldog runner to place was Reginald Thomas in third.

“I’m proud of all of our teams,” Wesley said. “They showed heart and ran well. Our goal is to win district and this is a good start.”

Junior varsity teams also participated with Cathedral winning both boy and girls’ groups.

“This is a good meet,” Cathedral coach Jean Benoit said. “We’ve got some good runners coming up in JV.”

Coulter Ward and Kimble Devening took first place for the Green Wave. Ward led all the Junior Varsity runners clocking a 17:30 in two miles.