Spartans make 5K season debut at Chickasaw Trails

MOULTON -- The Mountain Brook High School cross-country teams made their 5K season debuts on Saturday morning at the Chickasaw Trails Invitational.

Anna Grace Morgan stole the show. 

The only Spartan to claim a top-10 finish, Morgan pushed through a tough final mile and held on for fifth place in the large school girls race. Her time of 19 minutes, 1.42 seconds paced the Spartan girls to a runner-up team finish behind Tennessee's Brentwood Academy.

"We just kind of wanted to go out there and have fun and be competitive," Morgan said. "We were aiming for top three teams, and we definitely wanted to be the top team in Alabama, so we did that, and I'm happy about that."

Including Morgan, the Mountain Brook girls placed three runners in the top 20. Ana McArdle finished 12th in 19:50, and Amanda Jones finished 20th in 20:17. 

Collectively, the Mountain Brook girls totaled 98 points, 32 behind Brentwood Academy and eight ahead of Hoover. 

"Obviously, it's not where we want to be, but it's a good place to start," Mountain Brook head coach Michael McGovern said. "Our training is kind of targeted toward the end of October, beginning of November."

Charlie Slaughter posted a 14th-place finish in a time of 16:22, leading the Spartan boys to a fourth-place team finish.

Hunter Harwell was the only other Spartan to break 17 minutes, as he notched a 19th-place finish with a time of 16:33. 

The boys from Tennessee's Brentwood High School swept the race's top four positions, pushing them to a team victory. Brent Academy placed second and Hoover placed third. 

"We're probably a little behind where we'd like to be, but it was a tough day out there," McGovern said. "I think we were a little overly aggressive in the beginning, and it kind of caught up with us."

Saturday was the first real test of the season for Spartan squads that are in pursuit of a state title sweep at November's state meet. On Thursday, Sept. 1, they opened up their 2016 campaigns with a pair of convincing victories at the Thompson 2-Mile Invitational. 

"It definitely wasn't what we wanted, but it's the first 5K of the season," Slaughter said of Saturday's race. "We're going to learn from this one, we're going to grow together as a team, and starting Monday, we're going to go hard again, get ready for the next week and just put this one behind us."

Mountain Brook will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 17, at the Scottsboro Invitational.