By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

It was a sprint to the finish line.

Callaway’s Calik Kemp nearly ran away with a championship on Tuesday morning, but it was Bremen’s Jake Stubbs capturing the top spot in the Region 5-AA cross-country meet at Kinnett Stadium in Columbus.

Kemp’s strong finish helped Callaway place fourth as a team to qualify for the state meet in Carrollton.

Kemp finished the 3.1-mile race with a personal-best time of 17 minutes 48 seconds, which was just three seconds off the pace of Stubbs.

Next for Callaway was Michael Everett, who was 15th with a time of 19:40, and Ian Daughtery (19:56) was 18th.

Callaway’s next two runners were Maurice Delaney (21:09) and Devin Burger (22:45), who were 31st and 38th, respectively.

Jayvon Nunley (24:15) was 40th, and Hunter Lee (25:31) placed 44th.

Bremen won the team title, and it was followed by Lamar County, Jordan, Callaway, Spencer, Heard County and Temple.

In the girls’ race, Callaway only had four finishers, and it needed five to qualify for state.

Leading the way for Callaway was Shali Hackley (25:47) in 14th place, and Vivian Streiff (27:44) was 18th.

Callaway’s other two runners were Emily Rowlett (28:19) and Gabby Nixon (30:26) ,who were 23rd and 29th, respectively.

Bremen won the region title, and Lamar County and Jordan also qualified for state.