Spartan cross-country teams cruise to victory in Decatur
On Saturday, Oct. 8, the Mountain Brook High School cross-country teams competed in the “Dew It on the Trails” invitational race at Point Mallard Park in Decatur, Alabama. The boys and girls teams each had their best race of the season.
“Our PRs (personal records) and the fast times are a byproduct of the racing,” head coach Michael McGovern said of his team’s performance. “It was the perfect scenario for great times today.” Many Mountain Brook runners set a PR on the notoriously fast course.
The girls began their race at 9:30 a.m. Eighteen minutes and 14 seconds later, Anna Grace Morgan was the first Spartan to cross the finish line, finishing second overall.
Morgan was pleased with her performance. She said, “The lead pack went out really fast but I was able to catch up. It’s always really fun to come out here and race because we know it will be one of our fastest races of the year.”
Morgan led her teammates in a dominating performance. The girls team had six runners finish in the top 20. Only the top 5 runners score and the Spartans totaled 34 points, an impressive low total. The average time of their top 5 finishers was 18:56.
“It’s been a tough season. We haven’t run that many fast 5Ks so far, so it was nice for us to do so well today,” Morgan added. “Our work is finally showing and things are in line so we will be ready for state in November.” The girls are chasing 14 state championships in a row in the state’s highest classification. The last two of those have come in Class 7A, which was established in 2014.
The boys team defeated second-place Hoover by 30 points, as the Spartans amassed just 47 points, compared to the Bucs’ 77. Hunter Harwell and Charlie Slaughter were the top Spartan finishers and came across the line fifth and sixth overall, respectively. The team knew heading into the event that Hoover would be its toughest competition.
“We were really looking out for them (Hoover),” Harwell said. “We just did a really good job of securing our spots in front of their number 4 and 5 runners. This meet is a boost of confidence headed into the home stretch of our season.”
Gram Denning, John Galloway and Griffin Riley rounded out the top five for the Spartans, which averaged 16:13.
The theme for the boys team since the beginning of the season has been depth. On Saturday, it had 11 runners finish in the top 50, all of who were 17:30 or below.
The boys and girls teams will compete in the Husky Invitational at Hewitt-Trussville High School next Saturday. After that, the varsity teams will run in the Hoover Invitational. Sectionals are Nov. 3 and if the Spartans perform up to their capabilities, both teams will run in the state championship on Nov. 12.
“We have a yearlong training plan and we are on target for a good end of the year,” McGovern said.