AHSAA State Cross Country Champions Crowned
Montgomery Academy’s boys and girls swept the Class 1A-2A titles Saturday in the 2013 Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) state cross country championships at Oakville Indians Mounds State Park near Moulton.
Other champions crowned included the Auburn boys and Mountain Brook girls in Class 6A; Homewood boys and Scottsboro girls in 5A; Randolph boys and UMS-Wright girls in 4A; and the Westminster Christian boys and Bayside Academy girls in 3A.
T.R. Miller High School senior Karisa Nelson closed out her outstanding high school career by winning the Class 3A girls individual championship for the fifth time.
CLASS 1A-2A Girls:
Montgomery Academy nipped runner-up St. Bernard 44-55 to claim the 1A-2A girls’ championship. Westminster of Oak Mountain was a point back at 56 to finish third.
The individual champion was Woodville sophomore Sara Baugh, who won with a 19:27.30 time. Freshman Maddie Hoaglund of Westminster-Oak Mountain was second just four seconds back, and senior Logan Ayers of St. Bernard was third, just eight seconds behind the leader.
Montgomery Academy senior Gerard Taylor finished fourth to lead the Lady Eagles.
CLASS 1A-2A Boys:
Montgomery Academy scored 59 points to win the 1A-2A boys’ title. Cold Springs was second with 75 points and Holy Spirit Catholic of Tuscaloosa finished third at 108.
Holy Spirit senior Alex Enns was the individual champion with a time of 16:21.5, edging runner-up Dylan Paustic of Shades Mountain Christian, who clocked 16:42.40. Jack Anderson and Jack Barganier paced Montgomery Academy finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.
CLASS 3A GIRLS:
T.R. Miller’s Nelson ran the 3.1-mile race in 17:55.18 to beat runner-up Kaitlin York of American Christian, who clocked 18:27.99. Katie Nelson, Karisa’s twin sister, was third at 19:04.21.
T.R. Miller finished with 69 points to take second place behind Bayside Academy, which won the championship with 59 points. Eighth-grader Mary Catherine Branyon finished fifth to lead the Lady Admirals.
Nelson is one of only three girls in AHSAA history to win five state cross country championships. Lisa Savell was a six-time champion for Julius T. Wright from 1977-82, and Holly Holman of St. Paul’s won in 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987 and 1988.
CLASS 3A BOYS:
Ryan Ford and Cameron Sullivan finished 2-3 in the 3A boys meet to pace Westminster Christian of Huntsville to the championship. Trinity Presbyterian senior Wesley Curles won the individual championship with a 16:08.2 time. Ford was next at 16:48.3 and Sullivan was third with a 16:52.5 time. Alex Gipson clocked 17:13.9 as Westminster’s third runner to finish in the top 10.
Westminster won with 34 points. Cottage Hill Christian finished second at 120 and Sipsey Valley was third at 126.
CLASS 4A GIRLS:
Wilson High School sisters Cele and Phoebe Moon finished 1-2 in the individual race, but for the fifth straight year it was UMS-Wright claiming the 4A girls’ championship.
Cele Moon, a sophomore, turned in a time of 18:50.47 to capture her first state cross country title. Phoebe, an eighth-grader, was 45 seconds behind at 19:35.14.
UMS-Wright runners Greer Lauber, Ellie Carter, Anna Hunt and Emily Douglas crossed the finish line with top 10 finishes at 5, 6 and 7 and 9 as the Lady Bulldogs scored 37 points to coast to the school’s seventh overall girls’ title under Coach Pat Galle. Randolph was second with 83 points, and Wilson took third place with 86.
Lauber, an eighth-grader, had the best UMS time at 19:58.89. All four top finishers are underclassmen with Carter a junior, Hunt and Douglas, just in the seventh grade.
CLASS 4A BOYS:
Eshan King led Randolph to the 4A boys’ championship with a second-place finish in the individual competition. UMS-Wright’s Robert Hope won with a winning time of 16:09.7. King’s time was 16:33.5.
Randolph finished with 35 points and Montgomery’s Loveless Academic Magnet Program (LAMP) finished second with 349. LAMP runners Noah Foster and Thomas Lambert crossed the finish line third and fourth, respectively, both with times under 17 minutes.
CLASS 5A GIRLS:
Scottsboro scored 59 points to take the 5A girls’ championship for the 20th time – momentarily tying the state record for most girls’ cross country titles held by Mountain Brook, which won its 21st later in the day.
Alicia Atilano paced the Lady Wildcats with a 19:29.70 time to finish second individually. Fort Payne junior Olivia Thurman finished first at 19:19.10. Anna Braswell of St. Paul’s Episcopal was third.
Scottsboro won its first title in 1992 and has won 20 in the last 23 years. Lawrence County was second with 68 points and John Carroll Catholic finished third with 76.
CLASS 5A BOYS:
Homewood sophomore Andy Smith turned in a winning 16:14.6 time in the Class 5A boys meet and the Patriots also claimed the state team title with 33 points.
Senior Mike Rohdy, sophomore Fulton Williams and junior Alex Ngei rounded out Homewood’s top finishers at sixth, seventh and 10th place.
Aaron Davis of Hartselle was second overall with a 16:16.2 time. Scottsboro was second in the team standings at 57 and Lawrence County was third with 121.
CLASS 6A GIRLS:
Mountain Brook out-pointed Hoover 44-95 to win the Class 6A girls championship. The title was the 21st in Lady Spartans history and the most in AHSAA history.
Veronica Lyle of Hewitt-Trussville ran the course in 18:06.40 to capture the individual 6A title. Jessica Molloy of the Spartans was second at 18:17 and Nicole Payne of Oak Mountain was third at 18:29.
Coach Greg Echols’ Spartans set the previous state mark for team championships (20) last season. Class 5A Scottsboro equaled that mark in the 5A race Saturday, but Mountain Brook reclaimed the record all alone with its win in the 6A race that followed.
CLASS 6A BOYS:
Auburn runner Dylan Ogburn placed sixth and teammates Mitchell Gomez, Adam Ruggles and Fernando Lincoln also placed in the top 13 as the Tigers captured the Class 6A title.
Auburn finished with 47 points and Vestavia Hills took second place with 57. Rebels’ runner Mac Macoy, a senior, took first place with a 15:44.50 time. Ben Bryant of Opelika was a close second at 15:49.30.