Jenna-Lynne Massengill has opened her senior cross-country season with a personal best and a steady place near the front of the field for Ripley.
Massengill added another top finish Saturday at the Tupelo Invitational, placing sixth among 85 finishers in the Class 1A-4A girls 5K. She covered the course in 23 minutes, 3.10 seconds on Sept. 12.
It also extended an encouraging early-season stretch: fifth at Myrtle, 11th in a deep field at New Albany and sixth at Tupelo. Massengill led Ripley’s girls across the finish line in all three meets.
A week later, she showed she could stay near that mark in a much larger field. Massengill clocked 21:57.9 at the NMPHC Cross Country Classic in New Albany on Aug. 29, placing 11th among 153 finishers in the Class 4A-7A varsity girls division.
That performance was less than 10 seconds off her Myrtle time and gave her a second straight outing under 22 minutes.
Massengill entered the season with a top-five regional finish already on her résumé. She ran 22:39.80 to place fifth at the 2025 MHSAA Region 1-4A championship in New Albany on Oct. 21. Her finish helped Ripley secure second in the team standings with 57 points, edging New Albany by one point.
Now, with a faster personal best and three top-11 finishes this fall, she has given Ripley a consistent lead runner as the schedule moves deeper into September.
The Tigers are scheduled to compete at the Saltillo Cross Country Invitational on Sept. 19, followed by the Topper Trails High School Classic in Blue Mountain on Sept. 24, according to Ripley’s MileSplit schedule.
