Huntsville Boys Dominate, Auburn Girls Repeat In Class 7A

By Arthur L. Mack For DyeStat

OAKVILLE, Ala. — Cold and windy conditions, along with a muddy course, greeted hundreds of runners at the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s Cross Country Championships held at the Oakville Indian Mounds Park on Saturday.

Many greeted the conditions with gusto, running excellent times and leaving it all on the course. 

Here is a closer look at various classifications:

CLASS 7A: Huntsville’s boys were dominant — so dominant that they defeated second-place Vestavia Hills by 36 points (52 to 88). Mountain Brook (104), Grissom (141) and Smiths Station (142) rounded out the top five. RESULTS

Huntsville was led by Nick Ceci, who finished fourth in 15 minutes, 43.53 seconds. The Panthers placed all five of their scorers in the top 15, with Keaton Watts (10th, 15:58.32), Jackson Danner (11th, 16:04.71), Will Pinson (13th, 16:13.65), and Jacob Cobb (14th, 16:14.85) rounding out the scorers.

Huntsville coach Stephen Baker said his team had a game plan coming into the race and credited assistant coach Blake Borden with doing an excellent job of recruiting and getting runners to come out for the team.

“The plan was to just go out and keep pretty conservative to begin with, get into position, and then go crazy on the back stretch and work their way into position,” he said. “They did a good job of it.”

Individually, Vestavia’s Ethan Strand and Mountain Brook’s Hunter Harwell were locked in a battle to the finish, with Strand winning in 15:24.29 and Harwell 15:25.27.

On the girls side, Auburn repeated as champion, defeating Mountain Brook 25-58, with Huntsville (135), Hewitt-Trussville (151) and Mobile Baker (152) rounding out the top five. Auburn was led by Hannah Dyal, who fought off a late charge from Mountain Brook’s Reagan Riley. Dyal edged Riley by 18 seconds, 18:16.30 to 18:36.88. 

Auburn, who like Huntsville placed all five of their scorers in the top 15, got a 1-3-4-5-12 finish. Sarah Parnell, Harper McGowan and Samantha Rogers were third, fourth, and fifth with times of 18:38.97, 18:42.70, and 18:46.34 respectively; while Hallie Stewart was 12th in 19:16.19. 

CLASS 6A: It was no contest as Homewood dominated the boys and girls competition.  RESULTS

Homewood’s boys, led by Will Stone, easily defeated Cullman 38-96, with Northridge (137), Hartselle (169), and Mobile’s St. Paul’s Episcopal (183) rounding out the top five. Stone, one of the state’s elite runners, easily won the race, in 15:26.58.

“I just thought that it (the cold weather) was the same for everybody else, so I decided to play smart and wear so much clothing before the race,” Stone said. “But I like the cold to run in, and I thought that once I got going, it would be great.” 

Stone, who went through the first mile in 4:50, said that he was still feeling strong after the first two miles. 

“I wanted to be under 9:50 for the two-mile (split), and I was two seconds under that,” he said. “I still felt pretty good, and I probably backed off a little bit earlier than I planned to. But I couldn’t ask for more.” 

In the girls race, Homewood placed four runners in the top 10 to defeat Fort Payne 34-72, while St. Paul’s, led by Isabel Valenzuela (second, 19:11.37), was third (105). Pelham (131) and Daphne (139) rounded out the top five. 

Homewood was paced by Lainey Phelps, who was the individual winner in 18:22.51. Other runners in the top 10 for the Patriots were Edie Smith (third, 19:23.43), Victoria Thompson (fourth, 19:29.16), and Lily Blish (10th, 20:11.44). 

Class 5A: Once again, Scottsboro ruled in Class 5A, getting impressive wins in the boys and girls divisions.  RESULTS

In the boys race, Scottsboro routed Randolph of Huntsville 39-130, with Southside-Gadsden (139), Mobile’s Faith Academy (152) and Springville (165) rounding out the top five. Scottsboro placed four runners in the top 15, with sophomores Cooper Atkins and Hayden Judge finishing third and fourth in 16:07.49 and 16:12.16, respectively. Benson Atkins was seventh (16:26.93) and Rex Green was 12th (16:52.02). 

The boys race had an exciting finish. Birmingham Briarwood Christian’s Trent Malloy outkicked Faith Academy’s Myles Stoots. Malloy won in 15:52.35, while Stoots had a personal best of 15:56.80 for second. 

Malloy, who started picking up the pace during at the 1,000-meter mark, said that some divine guidance was the key to victory, and said he wasn’t expecting to win. 

“I usually have this song in my head, entitled “Lord, I lift Your Name on High,’ he said. “I really think it inspired me. Usually, I’m not that religious and stuff, but this time, I was really religious, like talking to God. He gave me this victory.” 

On the girls side, Scottsboro defeated Briarwood Christian 68-87. while Lawrence County (90), Huntsville Randolph (116), and Arab (135) rounded out the top five. Scottsboro was led by freshman McCall Chandler (fourth, 19:49.56). Faith Academy’s Bailey Lansdown was the individual winner, running 19:08.83.

Class 4A: As with Homewood and Scottsboro, Catholic-Montgomery swept the boys and girls titles. RESULTS

Catholic-Montgomery’s boys — paced by Grant Walker’s fourth-place finish in 16:34.48 — edged St. John Paul II Catholic of Huntsville 45-49, while a pair of Montgomery schools, Loveless Academic Magnet Program (LAMP) and Trinity Presbyterian, and Mobile’s UMS-Wright rounded out the top five with 85, 122, and 171 points respectively. Trinity Presbyterian’s Charlie Lott won the boys race (16:21.71). 

Catholic-Montgomery, led by ace Amaris Tyynismaa, defeated St. John Paul II Catholic 47-76, while UMS-Wright (124), Trinity Presbyterian (136) and White Plains (167) rounded out the top five. Tyynismaa turned in the fastest girls time of the day, winning her fifth consecutive state cross country title in 17:44.21. She was well ahead of the second-place runner, teammate Lily Bachl (19:04.21).

Class 3A: In another close competition, Pleasant Valley of Jacksonville’s boys narrowly defeated Daphne’s Bayside Academy, 90-93. Pleasant Valley won despite placing only one runner (Skyler McLeod, fifth, 17:14.69) in the top 15. Meanwhile, Bayside was paced by Bradley Schmidt (third, 17:04.55) and Myles Cook (sixth, 17:20.20).  RESULTS

St. Bernard of Cullman, led by Caleb Guthery (second, 17:03.55), Birmingham’s Westminster at Oak Mountain, led by first-place finisher Cooper Reynolds (16:49.29), and Dothan’s Houston Academy, rounded out the top five with 117, 146, and 148 points respectively. 

Westminster at Oak Mountain easily outdistanced Brewton’s T.R. Miller to win the girls division, 36-127. Pleasant Valley (128), St. James of Montgomery (143), and St. Bernard (160) rounded out the top five.

Westminster at Oak Mountain placed all of its scorers — Hallie Porterfield (second, 19:37.44), Hannah Adams (third, 19:58.60), Katie Wright (sixth, 20:07.67), Arden McCullough (11th, 21:01.21), and McKenzie Fulton (15th, 21:36.02) — in the top 15. Presley Miles of St. James was the individual winner, running 17:49.94. 

Class 1A-2A: This was a meet for Birmingham Altamont’s boys to win, and thanks in part to a strong performance by Asher Desai, the Knights were able to do just that. RESULTS

Desai won the race in 16:31.17 and fourth-and fifth-place finishes by James Dixon (16:56.91) and Spencer Skidmore (17:07.52) helped Altamont defeat Cold Springs 43-61. Westbrook Christian of Rainbow City, led by Mitchell Cook (second overall, 16:38.11) and Jonah Morris (third, 16:42,30), Ohatchee and Hatton rounded out the top five with 96, 117, and 127 points, respectively.

Cold Springs, paced by a 3-4-6 finish from Ava Akridge (21:07.27), Reagan Parris (21:12.86), and Ashleigh White (21:17.96) defeated Altamont 34-91. Hatton (92), Ohatchee (110), and Tuscaloosa’s Holy Spirit Catholic (172) rounded out the top five. Individually, freshman Breia Smith of Birmingham’s Cornerstone School of Alabama was the top finisher in 20:57.82.