DAPHNE, Ala. – The Spanish Fort girls and the Fairhope boys claimed the 2010 Baldwin County cross country team titles Saturday at the county championships held at Daphne's Al Trione Park. A field of 127 runners officially finished the course.

Individually, the Fairhopers swept the first-place crowns with freshman Hannah Evans and junior Shawn Hinton breaking the tape in each race. Evans crossed the 3.1 mile course in 19 minutes, 58.76 seconds while Hinton was out and back in 17:14.67.

The Fairhope boys top five scoring runners finished 1, 3, 5, 6, 8 for the winning 23 (A perfect score is 15 with all five scorers on a team finishing 1-5). Spanish Fort followed with a 54, Daphne took third with 67, Robertsdale was fourth (111), Foley fifth (118. Baldwin County and Gulf Shores rounded out the field.

The Spanish Fort girls also took first with all five front runners in the top 10 for a 24. Fairhope came in second at 47, Foley had 68 and Daphne 91 for the schools fielding teams.

Evans, who likes to run from the front did just that and kept it that way.

"I do like to take the lead," she said. "Today I just wanted to go out there. Out front, not too fast, and try to level it off. I felt pretty good the first two miles, but the last mile was a little hard. No PR but I'll take it."

Hinton came from behind, but never let the early leaders out of sight.

"I knew if I went out too fast I would burn out," he said. "So I waited and started picking people off and then went really hard. I ran as hard as I could. I try to keep my miles even but run with everything I have at the end. It wasn't my best time but I have no regrets."

The top-10 individual boys after Hinton's winning 17:14.67, were 2. Tyler Phelps of Robertsdale 17:32, 3. Nick Fasanello of Fairhope 17:39, 4. Reece Stevens of Spanish Fort, 5. Jordan Moore (Fairhope), 6. Thomas Grace (Fairhope), 7. Alex Guillory (Daphne), 8. Richard Zimmerman (Fairhope), 9. Trevor Stevens (Spanish Fort) and James Crossant (Daphne). Also receiving Top-20 individual all-meet honors were in order: Taylor Elmore (DHS), Connor Irion (SFHS), Erik Cabrera (Foley), Chase Dickson (SFHS), Tyler Orem (SFHS), Zach Kimmer (RHS), Ross Nelson (SFHS), Tyler Nichols (DHS), Jack Walker (SFHS) and Chandler Legualt (Gulf Shores).

The top 10 girls included Evans' 19:58.76, 2. Ayne Delgado SFHS 21:09, 3. Rebecca Citrin Pober (DHS) 21:11, 4. Elissa VandeWaa (SFHS), 5. Emma Everson (SFHS) 6. Katrina Garafano (SFHS), 7. Peyton Walker (SFHS), 8. Rachel Pigott (Foley), 9. Chelsey Gholson (Foley) and Amber Williams (Baldwin County). Also honored for their Top-20 all-meet finishes were, in order: Abby Sealy (Fairhope), Ariel Hudson (Fairhope), Megan Midkiff (Fairhope), Anna Grace Claunch (Fairhope), Megan Thompson (Foley), Jackie Smith (SFHS), Elizabeth Zimmerman (Fairhope), Nikki Moore (Foley), Kayla Olson (DHS) and Dafne Delgado (SFHS).

SFHS coach Shelby Stevens was proud of her teams, especially her senior girls Ayne Delgado, Mariah King, Elissa VandeWaa and Peyton Walker.

"They are not just great runners but great people, great characters. They have been great senior leaders mentoring to the younger runners, their leadership has been important and is really going to make an impact as we go toward state. And I'm proud of the boys too for working so hard."

Fairhope coach Tim Yahr was proud of his teams as well. "Our boys are running well. We've been chasing a lot of people like McGill and Spanish Fort for a while and they just decided they're tired of chasing and they have been really focused on catching them. The hard work is starting to pay off and came through today. I'm proud of them for that.

"Our girls did a great job, too. We had a plan and went after Spanish Fort, but they ran a better race today. Their seniors ran great for them. Ran hard and showed a lot of heart and our hats are off to them. Ayne was really strong today."

It was the first time the county meet had been held at the Trione complex site and Daphne coach Joe Hutchins said hosting it was fun and hopes to do it again.

"We would love to have it here again," he said. "Of course I would rather win it where ever it might be. I think the venue is great but the important thing is that the kids like it and have a good, competitive place to run it. I think it's fan friendly, wide open. Only thing better would be to host it and win.

"We hope to do better next year. Spanish Fort, Fairhope have some strong teams right now and are tough to beat. We have some good runners, but don't have enough. Need more numbers. Especially girls. Rebecca (Citrin Pober) was third overall and Kayla (Olson) was in the top 20. Our others are working hard and improving but still further back than we want. Boys are solid, had three or four in the top 20 and that's good, but we can do better."

Full results are posted at: al.milesplit.com