Spartans hope to take next step in cross-country
Mountain Brook High School cross-country coach Michael McGovern is hopeful that with another year of practice and experience, his Spartans team can take the next step.
Last season, both the boys and girls teams finished second at state after winning their respective section tournaments. Speaking after summer time trials, McGovern said it was clear that everyone “put in a good summer’s worth of training” ahead of the upcoming season.
The Spartans team last year was “very inexperienced,” he said, and he’s hoping another year of experience will help as they try to finish with a championship at the end of the season. The girls team is returning nine of its top 10 runners. The boys team lost just two of its top 10 runners from last season’s runner-up team that McGovern, in 2020, said exceeded expectations.
“These guys have really bought into hard work paying off and they have bought into a team-first atmosphere,” McGovern said after last year’s state meet. “I think they realize that a blue map is definitely a potential for the future.”
After 2020 individual state champion Elizabeth Robertson graduated in 2021, the runners to look out for this year include, on the girls’ side: Reagan Riley, who was hurt during last season but had a great indoor track and field season, Clark Stewart, Kennedy Hamilton, Mary Katherine Malone, Lucy Benton and Hunter Anderson, McGovern said.
On the boys’ side, McGovern mentioned Clayton Collins, Gary Clark, Austin Webb, Davis Plowden and George Pelekis.
Collins, who finished ninth at last year’s state championships, “sets the tone” for the rest of the team, McGovern said.
“He comes to practice every day to work,” McGovern said.
Collins is not a vocal leader, McGovern said, but he “pounds it,” raising the bar and the expectations for everyone around him.
The challenges for this upcoming season include staying focused. While many restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic have been loosened, the Delta variant has caused concern all over the country, and Mountain Brook Schools are one of many school districts that mandate masks while students are indoors.
“They (the runners) realize what they have to do to keep the season going,” McGovern said.
In addition to continuing to fight the pandemic, McGovern said dealing with a difficult area is always challenging. This season, Homewood will present a challenge, along with a “strong” McGill-Toolen team. Scottsboro and Cullman will also present a challenge to the Spartans, McGovern said.
As the season gets underway this month, McGovern said he is most excited to see how his team grows this season, and said they are “on the verge of doing big things.”
The season kicks off for Mountain Brook on Sept. 1 and 2 with a visit to Thompson. Five more meets will be held after the opening weekend, ahead of the sectional meet Oct. 28 and the state meet Nov. 6.