Jaeda Grant served it up to visiting American high school runners in the National X-Country Championships at Botanical Gardens on Saturday.

A host of American athletes were competing alongside local runners as part of their XC Challenge Series and Grant produced a monumental effort to not only become Bermuda’s junior champion in the girls 14-16 age group but to finish second in that division against the visiting runners, some of whom were in the top ten in their state.

Grant finished second to Melina Johnston from Robbinsville High School, New Jersey, beating seven other Americans home.

Tight finishes were the order of the day in the other local division with Solae Goater winning the girls under-10 race by less than two seconds over Zaya Zuill and Adrian Myers edging out Liam Horrobin in the boys under-10 age group by a similar margin.

In the 10-11 category, Sukanya Jobson and Chavi Pacheco Hill won their mile races by a far bigger margin with Jobson having 22 seconds to spare over nearest rival Brooklyn Myers in the girls race and Pacheco Hill holding a 19-second buffer over his nearest chaser Harrison Estwanik.

Kelise Wade and Cameron Adkins produced sparkling performances in the 12-13 category, with Wade coming home 11 seconds clear of nearest rival Somers Estwanik and Declan Reardon 36 seconds behind Adkins when finishing second.

Tajahri Rogers was a fine winner of the boys 14-16 age group over 5,000m with a 41-second margin over his nearest challenger Seer Casey.

Visiting athlete Shalom Trowbridge from Central Grand Junction High School in Colorado won the 17-19 age group.

There were wins in some of the older age groups for Daryl Herrick (Men’s 40-49), Ted Leblow (men’s 50-59) and Edwina Arorash 60-69