Huntsville ends 14-year Mountain Brook streak

By Arthur L. Mack for DyeStat

            Saturday, November 12 — A prolonged drought that has become the talk of the state did little to impact runners from giving it their all at the Alabama State Athletic Association’s Cross Country Championships held at the Oakville Indian Mounds Park in Oakville.

            It was a dry day that saw some streaks continue, while another one fell. And speaking of drought, one team brought home a state title after going 16 years since its last one. 

RESULTS

            CLASS 7A: This was supposed to be a year that the dominant teams — Auburn’s boys and Mountain Brook’s girls — maintained their strangleholds on team titles. Auburn was primed to win its fourth straight title, while Mountain Brook was gunning for its 14th consecutive title overall, including third straight in Class 7A.

            As it turned out, the predictions turned out to be half fulfilled.

            Auburn’s boys, paced by a 3-4-5 finish by seniors Joshua Escoe (15 minutes, 42.56 seconds), Jack Rogers (15:52.55) and Nate Pudner (15:55.62), defeated Mountain Brook 59-69 to win their fourth straight title. Rounding out the top five were Hoover (93), Baker of Mobile (121) and Oak Mountain (129).

            This division also featured one of the more exciting races: Hoover’s Tommy McDonough went up against Hewitt-Trussville’s John Ngariuya. Ngariuya led for most of the race, with Escoe in pursuit, but McDonough came on in the final few yards to win in 15:39.7, while Ngariuya finished in 15:39.8.

            In the girls race, Mountain Brook was primed to defend its title and got a monster race from Anna Grace Morgan, who ran an impressive 17:41.01 to win the individual title. But Huntsville’s strong showing, featuring a third-place performance from senior Abbey Zane (18:23.45), as well as sixth-and seventh-place finishes by sophomore Abbey Weitenbeck (18:48.32) and junior Rachel Jones (18:51.19), respectively, led it to a 51-61 upset win.

            Auburn was third with 64 points, while Hoover and Huntsville Grissom rounded out the top five with 96 and 169 points respectively.

CLASS 6A: Homewood was primed to win its fifth straight boys title, and its third straight as a Class 6A team, and the Panthers didn’t disappoint, thanks to sophomore Will Stone defeating race favorite Ben Garner of Opelika.

Stone won in 16:01.4, while Garner was not far behind in 16:13.6. But Stone’s teammate, senior Paul Selden, finished third in 16:17.57 as Huntsville defeated Cullman 55-72 to keep its streak going.

Helena was third with 94 points, while Birmingham’s John Carroll Catholic (147) and Opelika (155) rounded out the top five.

Stone said that he had heard rumors that Garner had been battling an injury, and didn’t know how the race would pan out. To complicate matters, Stone himself suffered a cramp at the 2-mile mark and had to gut it out.

“It really came down to how he did,” Stone said of Garner. “We ran together for most of the race, and I knew if I had to kick to win, I would do it.”

Homewood made it a sweep in 6A, winning the girls race as well, stopping John Carroll Catholic’s bid for a third straight title in the process. For Homewood, freshman Lainey Phelps’ winning time of 18:02.13 set the tone as the Panthers placed three runners in the top 15 to defeat Florence 51-103. Fort Payne was third (118), while John Carroll Catholic placed fourth with 132 points and Spanish Fort scored 157 for fifth.

CLASS 5A: Scottsboro, which was a Class 6A team last year, made the most of its reclassification and denied two-time defending boys champion Lawrence County a third straight title.

Senior Colton Smith paced Scottsboro, winning in 16:09.6, as it placed three runners in the top 15 to hold off Huntsville’s St. John Paul II 47-57. Briarwood Christian was third with 96 points, while Lawrence County could only manage fourth (121 points). Guntersville rounded out the top five with 138 points.

The big story in Class 5A, though, was in the girls race, where Lawrence County was trying to make it three in a row. Mobile’s St. Paul’s Episcopal, led by Isabel Valenzuela’s winning time of 18:21.33, dashed those dreams in a hurry as the Saints placed three runners in the top 15 to narrowly defeat co-favorite Scottsboro 54-57. 

Lawrence County was close behind in third with 60 points, while Guntersville and Alexandria rounded out the top five with 125 and 126 points, respectively.

It was St. Paul’s first girls title since 2000 and head coach Jim Tate said he felt a sigh of relief, especially with his top eight runners being eighth and ninth graders.

“I was thinking we probably did win, but it was close,” he said. “Obviously, it was a great win for us. Our attitude was that we were as good as anyone in 5A.”

CLASS 4A: This class was wide open, as it appeared there wa no clear-cut favorite in the boys race.

But the Montgomery-based Loveless Academic Magnet Program, known as LAMP, was more than happy to oblige and win a close battle with Huntsville Randolph, 88-90, with defending champion Trinity Presbyterian of Montgomery third with 95 points.

Junior Won Heo was LAMP’s top finisher in sixth in 16:49.82, while Adam Peck was the other LAMP runner in the top 15 (14th overall, 17:00.65). But the Golden Tigers were helped by other schools having runners scattered among the top 15.

Northport Northside, paced by junior Tanner King, who won the race in 16:22.32, was fourth with 105 points, while Catholic-Montgomery was fifth with 110.

On the girls side, Florence-Wilson’s two-year winning streak came to an end as Randolph defeated Catholic-Montgomery 55-65. Randolph managed to survive a 1-3 finish by Catholic-Montgomery’s Amaris Tyynismaa (18:07.76) and Isabelle Cochran (19:13.98) by placing four runners in the top 15. 

Randolph’s top finishers were juniors Katherine Hunter (sixth, 19:53.10) and Caroline Stucky (seventh, 19:55.40).

West Limestone was third with 69 points, while Mobile’s UMS-Wright finished fifth with 160 points.

CLASS 3A: Thanks to a strong race from junior Taylor Ray, Tuscaloosa’s American Christian Academy repeated its state title.

Ray ran an impressive 16:34.68, and a 3-5-6-9 finish from teammates Brock Isom (16:52.29), David Barrett (16:54.75), Caleb Isbell (17:03.36) and Joseph Wohlers (17:17.43) led the Patriots to a resounding 24-107 victory over Pleasant Valley.

Ray was in a big battle with Daphne’s Bayside Academy’s Ernest Ladd, who led until the last few yards when Ray put on a big kick and beat Ladd by two seconds.

“To be a state champion is not only a credit to the coaching staff, but most of all to God,” said Ray.

Bayside Academy was third with 127 points, while Montgomery Academy was fourth (144) and Houston Academy fifth (156.).

Pleasant Valley defended its girls title, defeating Brewton’s T.R. Miller 70-86 despite T.R. Miller’s Allie Nelson winning the race with a time of 18:53.29. Pleasant Valley was led by eighth grader Trinity Roberts (third, 19:55.05).

American Christian was third with 92 points, while Bayside Academy was fourth (154) and Brindlee Mountain fifth with 177.

CLASS 1A-2A: Cullman’s St. Bernard Prep got a huge win in the Class 1A-2A boys race, thanks to a 1-2 finish by senior Casey Guthery (16:33.57) and junior Andrew Sweeney (16:47.49).

The Saints edged defending champion Cold Springs 58-64, with Westminster at Oak Mountain third with 85 points. Birmingham Altamont was fourth with 124 points while Whitesburg Christian was fifth with 129.

“It seemed that the race was a little bit slower than it actually was,” Guthery said. “But I just wanted to grind out the first half of the race and not burn myself out.”

Westminster-Oak Mountain won the 1A-2A girls title, defeating Hatton 42-88, while St. Bernard was third with 89. Cold Springs and Altamont rounded out the top five with 95 and 112 points, respectively.

Westminster-Oak Mountain was led by senior Maddie Hoaglund, who finished fourth in 19:53.61. Whitesburg Christian’s Hannah Tarwater was the winner in 19:18.73.