The Pleasant Home Eagles boys’ cross-country team put up strong numbers at the section meet to clinch a spot in Saturday’s State Championship meet in Cullman.

“As the season went along, we progressed and got better,” Eagles head coach Troy Turman said. “We lost two of our top three runners from last year and our top runner was hurt until about two-thirds of the way through the year. Once he came back, we really finished strong down the stretch.”

Turman said that the team really made a strong showing at the sectional meet.

“We had 10 guys and eight girls at the section meet,” Turman said. “Our boys qualified for state as a team. Nathaniel Erwin was our top finisher with a time of 20:05. It wasn’t his best day, but he has been dealing with a knee issue and we aren’t sure that he is going to be able to run on Saturday. Right now, he is day-to-day.”

The rest of the Pleasant Home boys came in a pack to help the Eagles clinch a spot at the state meet.

“The thing that got us to state was our consistency of our two through seven guys,” Turman said. “They all finished between 21 and 22:50. That is what got us to state. Only the top five count to your score, but your other runners can displace other teams points. That helped us edge out Zion Chapel. We finished with 104 points and they had 119.”

Pleasant Home’s boys finished third in at the section meet behind Westminster Christian and Holy Spirit.

“There will be 12 teams combined from Class 1A and 2A at the state meet,” Turman said. “Realistically, we are going with the goal of cracking the top 10. That is going to be a tough task if Nathaniel is unable to run. Westminster will probably win the whole thing. They have the top five runners in the state. I’m just proud of boys and girls this year and we are excited about this weekend.”