Morgan captures state title, Spartans second

It took six attempts, but Anna Grace Morgan can finally call herself an individual state champion.

The Mountain Brook High School senior stormed to a first-place finish in the Class 7A girls race at the Nov. 12 AHSAA State Cross Country Championships. Her meet-leading, personal-best 5K time of 17 minutes, 46.01 seconds bested the talented field by more than 30 ticks.

“It’s incredible. I’m so happy about it,” Morgan said after the race. “It’s a great way to go out of Mountain Brook cross-country.” 

Morgan had donned a Spartan uniform at the state meet since 2011. At the time, she was a Mountain Brook Junior High seventh-grader who got called up to compete with the varsity squad. 

Now an established veteran, Morgan relied upon seasons of experience to help propel her to the gold medal. 

A vote of confidence from head coach Michael McGovern didn’t hurt either.

“‘If you run your race and just run smart, I think some good things are going to happen,’” McGovern recalled telling Morgan the night before the meet.  

On a pristine morning at Oakville Indian Mounds Park, Morgan raced smart, and McGovern’s prediction came true.  

The senior initially held back as she watched McGill-Toolen’s Grace Jensen open an early lead after flying off the starting line. Composed and collected, Morgan led the chase pack through the 1-mile mark around 5:30. 

“I knew she was going to do that,” Morgan said, “so I was just trying to keep calm the whole time. I wasn’t really worried about it.”

As Jensen faded, Morgan accelerated, and the two pulled even near the 1.75-mile mark.

That’s where Morgan made her definitive move. 

“After I passed her, I just sprinted,” she said. “I was like, ‘I don’t care if I have nothing left for the finish. I’ve got to go now.’”

Morgan ran the first half of the race with her head, and the final half with her heart. 

Gliding fluidly over the gravel and grass course, she didn’t relent until crossing the finish line in a 28-second personal best. Jensen finished runner-up in 18:18.06. 

“Unbelievable,” McGovern said. “As the season was progressing, I thought she had a chance at it.”

After catching her breath, Morgan shuffled out of the finishing chute and into the embrace of her sister, former Spartan star Madeline Morgan. 

A 2009 Mountain Brook graduate, Madeline Morgan went down as one of the most decorated distance athletes in program history. But an individual state cross-country title had always eluded her. Three times she finished third.  

On Nov. 12, however, that glass ceiling came shattering down. Records fell, too.

Anna Grace Morgan’s 17:46 5K mark signified her first time dipping under the elite 18-minute barrier. It also lowered the 7A state meet record set by former teammate Frances Patrick in 2015.

“I just wanted to race kind of conservatively and save it for the end,” Anna Grace Morgan said.

Paced by their front-runner, the Spartan girls tallied 61 points to claim a second-place finish. Huntsville took first with 51 points after placing four runners in the top 12. 

The strong showing snapped Mountain Brook’s streak of 13 consecutive titles, which began in 2003.  

“We came up against a Huntsville team that ran really well today,” McGovern said after the meet. “I mean, that’s kind of the way sports work sometimes. You can’t take anything away from them. They ran a great race, and we didn’t run our best today.”

Mountain Brook’s five scoring runners all finished in the top 20, but it wasn’t enough to overcome their opponent’s front-running contingent. Huntsville’s top four placed ahead of Mountain Brook’s second runner, sophomore Anna Balzli, who finished 14th in 19:05.37. 

“When you run into that situation, it’s hard to stop,” McGovern said. 

Balzli and freshman teammate Lily Hulsey (15th, 19:10.26) joined Morgan as All-State honorees thanks to their top 15 finishes. Freshmen Tessa Allen (19th, 19:19.77) and Cameron Hudson (20th, 19:21.24) capped the team’s scorers. 

The Mountain Brook boys also secured a runner-up finish at the state meet. They finished second to Auburn, which won its fourth-straight state title, 59-69. The Tigers swept positions three through five in the 7A boys race.

“Auburn had a great day. They’re a senior-laden team, and to put three in the top five like they did, that’s really hard to come back from,” McGovern said. “Our guys ran great, they really did. Auburn just ran better today.”

Sophomore Hunter Harwell and junior Charlie Slaughter paced the team with a pair of All-State finishes. Harwell placed seventh in 16:00.95, and Slaughter placed ninth in 16:03.60. 

Junior Gram Denning (16th, 16:17.83), senior Griffin Riley (17th, 16:18.44) and sophomore Joseph Pitard (26th, 16:30.08) capped the team’s scoring. 

“We were a band of brothers, so we’re all just proud of ourselves for what we accomplished this season,” Harwell said.