Saturday marked the 12th Annual Pepsi XC Challenge hosted by Lawrence County High School at H.A.
Alexander Municipal Park. 1,128 athletes from 57 schools competed in the fun-filled morning.
The morning kicked off with a thrilling Large Schools Girls Race highlighted by the rivalry between
Huntsville High's Ava McIntosh and Lawrence County's Savannah Williams. Last week it was Savannah
winning but this week it was McIntosh redeeming herself. With 400m to go, Savannah was storming to
the finish but as they made the final hairpin turn, Ava charged hard to the finish in 18:35 with a smile on
her face. But it was Lawrence County winning the team competition 35-54. Coach Stan Johnson said,
"My girls are still hungry. I didn't want to press them today, but they still come in and get PRs and we
won another race."
In the Large School Boys race, Scottsboro's Evan Hill was extremely dominant finishing with no one in
sight. The senior's 15:46 was near 30 seconds faster than his teammate Stephen Jones for second. Hill
came through the mile in 4:55, slowed during the switchbacks of the course but turned it on in the last
mile on his way to victory. James Clemens, with an average of 16:44, won the team score with 39 points.
The Jets have now won in back-to-back weekends after winning last week at Scottsboro. Coach Drew
Bell said this about his boys team: "I told them [to give a] 20 second hard start and build a wall and
control the race. They all came through 4:50-5:00. The focus this meet was to pull out the 800m Adidas
National Champion/All American Dylan Dryer and put pressure on our sixth man, Ronan Barnes. He rose
up and finished fourth for our team. James Clemens just treated this as a Pack Run race. JCXC is saving
the out-of-body experience for the Southern Showcase and the Alexander ASICS Invitational in Georgia."
AL #1 Ethan Edgeworth was untouchable winning the Small Schools Boys race in 16:03 and lead his team
to a victory. Edgeworth was coming off a big win at Scottsboro last week, running 15:14, so he just gave
it a much easier effort cruising to the finish.
In the Small Schools Girls race, Lexington's Victoria Woods took the win in 21:17 just 12 seconds off her
personal best. The senior is coming off a stellar track season where she PR'd in the 1600m and the
3200m.