"We walked out of here disappointed last year with third place," Fuqua said after the race, "My team...ran their hearts out...[this] week we've just been pulling off of each other and telling each other..to run like we had all season and we knew we could get the job done."
They definitely did get the job done; the Eagles defeated the defending champions from Briarwood by the skins of their teeth! The battle for the team title came down to a battle between the fifth man of both Oak Mountain and Briarwood. Oak Mountain would win that battle and the title with Dan Morris (Oak Mountain) finishing 15th, one spot ahead of Jesse Touchstone of Briarwood to give Oak Mountain the championship.
Oak Mountain's team is made up of three seniors, Fuqua being one of them. "It was really emotional, I started to tear up...It was just a really special moment to [be with my team] for the last time."
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In the individual race between Fuqua and Stanfield, it was definitely a memorable battle with Stanfield running an extremely gutsy race. The Texas transfer and son of Samford University's cross country coach, Stanfield lead the race by a wide margin for the first two miles. Ty shocked everyone by opening the race with a blazing 4:35 first mile split...and then holding on to the lead for two miles. At the two mile mark Fuqua was trailing by almost 15 seconds.
Perhaps the pace and heat started to catch up with Stanfield as the gap slowly closed between the two. "I just relaxed and started looking at Ty's back, opening my stride, and just telling myself that I still have a chance and I was still in it." said Fuqua in a post-race interview. The race results do little to illustrate the battle of two of the nations finest. In the end Fuqua would win by a margin of 25 seconds as Stanfield could not hold on to the hard pace he had set going into the hills of the last mile.
Ty and Scott now look onward to two more races of their senior cross country seasons: Footlocker regionals, and then hopefully a trip to Nationals in Orlando. Rivalries now aside they both hope to represent Alabama and the South with national berths.