The Southeast Cross Country Showdown 5K course at Veteran's Park in Hoover, AL, has been labeled one of the toughest courses in the country. Teams from all over Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee came to prove themselves and demonstrate stamina and dedication as a combination of a somewhat flat start, scenic wooded areas, and grueling hills provided runners with a challenge unlike any other course. Scattered rain showers throughout the day kept temperatures cool, but fortunately did not leave the course too muddy.
Previous events held at this course such as The Great American Cross Country Festival and the Nike Nationals, have provided challenging times to beat. The course record for the High School girls 5K is 17:05.6 set by Ashley Brasovan from Wellington High School and for the High School Boys 5K is 15:34.3 set by Bill Mathews from Baylor School.
The meet was well organized and ran very smoothly. Meet Director Steve Bedsole commented, "I'm very pleased. We have a tremendous crew, everyone is experienced and everything just goes like clockwork." Each race was sponsored by a different branch of the U.S. Military, honoring our service men and women. And each race had unique awards which were presented by the sponsoring military branch. In addition, many runners opted to wear the pink ribbon provided in their race day packets in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Day.
There was also a sense of team spirit and good sportsmanship as runners cheered on not only their own teammates, but also runners from other schools, yelling words of encouragement. "You can do it. Don't give up, you're almost there." As runners crossed the finish line, often several at a time, if they stepped out of place, they didn't think twice about making sure a runner who crossed in front of them was allowed into the shoot first. Everyone out there was a team player.
The day's events started with the College Women's 3K. Participating schools were Samford University taking 1st with 19 points, Ole Miss with 40 points, and University of Alabama at Birmingham in 3rd with 80 points. The top finisher was Hillary Neal from Samford crossing the finish in 10:19.89.
The Men's College 5K had runners from Samford University winning with 28 points over Ole Miss who had 29 points. Barnabas Kirui from Ole Miss ran a 14:59.29 securing the 1st place finish.
Six Middle School teams participated in both the girls and boys 3K races. Madeline Held from Berry Middle School locked in on first place with a time of 12:13.69, a 28 second lead over Mountain Brook's 2nd place Kayleigh Cochran's time of 12:41.49. Mountain Brook also supplied the 3rd place girl, Deanna Medina with a time of 12:54.02. This helped Mountain Brook take the 1st place team win with 21 points. Berry Middle School came in 2nd place with 64 points and Simmons Middle School was right behind them with 65 Points.
The boys middle school race had an exciting fight between 4th and 5th place. Nick Simmons from Berry Middle School and Justin Hawk from Mountain Brook Middle School both kicked in hard fighting for position. Nick Simmons won the fight, taking 4th with 12:01.43 and Justin Hawk right behind with a time of 12:02.05. 1st to cross the line was Riverchase Middle School's Nick O'Brien (11:36.03) followed by Davis Kelly (11:51.16) from Mountain Brook in 2nd. In 3rd, was Justin Anderson (11:54.21) from Riverchase. Mountain Brook took the team win with 30 points, followed by Riverchase in 2nd with 55 points and Berry Middle School in 3rd with 69.
The Girls Small School/JV 5K had 34 runners with three teams looking to place. Harpeth Hall School secured the 1st place team win (30 points) with their top 5 runners taking 7th through 11th places overall. Katie Davidson was 1st for the team with a time of 22:58.04. With 33 points, in second place was Montgomery Catholic. Their top two runners were Katherin Terino, taking second overall with a time of 22:09.80 and Sarah Talbot, finishing 3rd overall with a time of 22:30.30. Hoover High School locked in the 3rd place team win with 58 points. Rensche Steyn was their top placer, crossing the finish line in 12th place with a time of 23:57.0. The overall girls winner was Shelby Harp from Warren East, completing the race in 21:55.68.
The Boys event had several competitions for place throughout the race with runners kicking in the last few feet, hoping to move up one more spot. Robert Bridges from Red Bank High School placed 1st overall with a finish time of 14:49.12. About 10 seconds behind him was Paul Adams from Trinity High School with an 18:00.67. Westminster High School's Adam Dunkerly was the 3rd place finisher running 18:11.16. Trinity High School also had the 4th -7th place finishes giving them the overall team win with 24 points. Hoover High School placed 2nd with 77 points. Their top runner was Zac Boswell who placed 8th with a finish time of 18:33.34. Danny Cooper was Niceville's number 1 runner crossing the finish in 10th place with a race time of 18:50.72 and helping his team take the 3rd place win with 118 points.
The next event was the All American Showdown, with top varsity teams from around the region all vying for position. The race was preceded by an opening ceremony honoring the nation's service men and women. The entire field was still as a trumpet solo playing the National Anthem echoed across the field. Then a moment of silence honored those we have lost while in service to our country. The colors were presented by Pelham High School ROTC.
Now, it's race time. The All American Girl's 1st place finisher, Carmen Carolos from McGill-Toolen Catholic High School had the lead at the halfway point and continued to lead the pack finishing in 18:22.68, about 40 seconds in front of second place. Carmen was happy with her performance. She commented, "I heard it was a slow course. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." McGill-Toolen finished in 4th place as a team. Rachel Roberts from John Carroll Catholic was second with 19:02.70 and in 3rd, Claire Turner from Red Bank High School finished with a time of 19:20.81. The top 3 finishing teams did not have the top 3 runners. Brookwood High School was 1st overall, securing the win with 65 points. Their top 2 runners placed 6th (Carly Eagan, 19:52.97) and 9th (Carline Kissel, 20:08.55). In second place was Alpharetta with 91 points and with 124 points, Baylor High School was 3rd.
The All American Boys winner finished just shy of the 15:34 course record. Ryan Eaton, from Greenwood High School ran a 15:40.35. He was followed closely by Baylor High School's Brandon Lord, who took second with a 15:45.40. In 3rd with a finish time of 15:52.12 was Charlie Sparks from Columbus High School. Again, for the boys race, the top three runners were not part of the overall winning teams. Rayan Gadsey (16:46.50) from Brentwood High School crossed the finish in 7th place helping his team secure the 1st place win with 96 points. Head Coach Ronnie Seigenthaler couldn't have been more pleased with his team's performance. He commented that the team is really starting to gain confidence in themselves. "I told the boys I didn't want them thinking about the clock or about splits today. Just compete. They knew what they were coming into and felt excited." Brentwood has a pretty young team, according to their coach. Most of the boys are Softmores with one Junior and one Senior. This could be one team to really watch over the next couple of years.
Hoover High School was second with 110 points. David Hudman was 1st for their team, finishing 5th overall with a time of 16:36.81. Ensworth High School had 4th place Garrett Carmichael (16:33.39) and took 3rd overall with 137 points.
The final events of the day were the Girls and Boys Large School 5K races. Vestavia Hills High School took the overall Girls team win, with their top finisher also finishing 1st overall. Sydney Anthony had a time of 20:11.56. In second was Cori Green from Oxford High School with a time of 21:40.50, with Spain Park High School's Selena Decosta taking 3rd with a time of 22:08.49. Spain Park also had the second place overall team win with 69 points and Oxford placed 3rd with 73.
Spain park did have the 1st place team win for the boys race, with 45 points. Their top runner, Brandon Hazouri, (17:48.77) crossed the finish in second place behind Cody Lee (17:27.33) from Homewood High School. Homewood secured the second place team win with 49 points. Oxford High School placed 3rd as a team and also had the 3rd place overall finisher, Nathan Thrasher with a time of 17:56.83.
The top 25 runners from each race were presented ribbons and awards were given to the top three teams.
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