The Cardinal mens cross country team traveled to Columbia, S.C. Saturday to defend its 2008 1A title against 16 other 1A schools. &bsp;The Cardinals defeated runner-up Christ Church by 39 points after placing runners at 4th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 12th, 14th and 17th. Senior Cody Ridley ran the 3.1 miles in 17:14.&bsp; Other times were: JJ Carruth 17:36, Kenneth Human 17:43, Seth Kemp 17:48, JR Jackson 17:56, Mick Prather 18:01 and Danny Bruce 18:11. The top 15 runners were selected All-State and Ridley was named to the Shrine Bowl Team. Carruth, Human, Prather and Bruce return next year for the Cardinals.After capturing their first Region 2A title, the Lady Cardinals went on to win the 1A/2A Upper State Championship before traveling to Columbia to improve on last years runner-up finish.&bsp; The Lady Cardinals dominated the other 23 teams and defeated 2nd place Pendelton by 91 points. &bsp;Their top five runners placed 2nd, 4th, 11th, 12th and 13th.&bsp;&bsp; The top five made the All-State Team.&bsp; Samantha Waters led with a time of 19:13.&bsp; Following her were: Sarah Cash 19:52, Lauren Pitts 20:33, Cierra Belue 20:35, Elizabeth Walter 20:35, Alisha Belue 22:26 and Rachel Furman 22:54.&bsp;&bsp; Waters, Cash, Pitts, C. Belue, Walter and Furman return for three more years.Cardinal second year coach Jeremy Darby attributes the teams success this year to not getting complacent throughout the year and never assuming that these titles were in the bag.