Photo by Erin Nelson.
Mountain Brook’s Clark Stewart pushes through the final stretch in the Class 7A girls race during the AHSAA state cross-country meet at Oakville Indian Mounds Park in November 2019.
The Mountain Brook High School cross-country teams will not be found on the Class 7A leaderboard at the state meet this November.
That’s not due to a lack of competitiveness, though. The Spartans dropped down to 6A in the latest round of AHSAA reclassification, taking Mountain Brook from one of the smallest 7A schools to one of the largest 6A schools in the state.
“It’s a big change,” said Michael McGovern, the Spartans cross-country coach. “I’m used to competing against Vestavia and Hoover. We’ve always liked being the underdog in the biggest classification.”
There will be no underdog card for McGovern to play this year. Going into the fall, the Spartans boys and girls teams will be expected to compete at a high level and contend for a championship.
“We’ll just develop some new rivals,” he said, noting the likes of Homewood, Briarwood, Scottsboro and Cullman as some of the top teams in the class.
The Spartans know they still have to work to achieve their goals in 2020. But McGovern has seen a renewed energy from his team, especially after the outdoor track and field season was halted in the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What I see this year is a hunger,” he said. “We’ve had no complaining so far. Everyone comes to practice every day ready to work. It’s exciting. The time away from the sport allowed them to appreciate what they have.”
On the boys team, the Spartans have plenty of shoes to fill after graduating most of their top runners from a year ago. Bibb Albright, Clayton Collins, Austen Webb, Denton Russell, Harry Clark and George Pelekis have emerged as Mountain Brook’s top runners ahead of the start of the season.
But there are plenty of other guys who will contribute to the team’s success as well, including Jackson Avery, Luke Barlow, William Clark, Tommy Daley, Mason Keller, Davis Lee, Hagen Livingston, Brooks Miklic, Nicholas Miller, Spence Morano, Mike Mullen, Lucas Ortiz, Henry Phillips, Walker Phillips, Davis Plowden, Walton Redden, Carson Rouleau, Gann Trucks and Charles Vaughan.
“On paper, people are probably overlooking us,” McGovern said. “We can do something special.”
The girls team will not be overlooked, however, as it returns several contributors from a team that narrowly finished as the 7A runner-up last fall.
The headliner of the group is Reagan Riley, who finished third in the state last year as a freshman. There are several others who have stood out to McGovern over the summer, including Clark Stewart, Gracie Walker, Elizabeth Robertson, Molly Russell, Lucy Benton and Mary Katherine Malone. Along with Robertson and Russell, Catherine Corley is the only other senior for the girls side.
Other girls that will compete this fall include Ellen Anderson, Hunter Anderson, Virginia Averyt, Kate Barlow, Ivy Cobbs, Olivia Comini, Lauren Cotton, Greer Davis, Olivia Dayhuff, Ellie Fooshee, Abbey Hudson, Parker Kate Searcy and Payton Searcy.
The Mountain Brook schedule is not as robust as usual, considering the state of a COVID-19 world. But the Spartans will compete in local events put on by Thompson, Oak Mountain, Spain Park and Hewitt-Trussville. They will also compete at the Chickasaw Trails Invitational, which takes place on the state meet course, and in Decatur.
Despite the odd dynamics of the season, McGovern’s goal for his team remains the same as it has always been.
“I want us to be at our best at the end of the season in October and November,” he said.
