The Jesse Owens Classic is in its 22nd year at Oakville with this year's offering. With what is one of the largest meets in terms of overall teams and finishers the southeast has to offer, the AL state course can expect some incredible competition this weekend as the weather forecast looks to compliment a strong field of cross-country teams and runners. Nearly 200 teams from multiple southeast states will converge on the charming and historical Indian Mounds Park this year and the expectations are high for some national level running.
The top three teams in the championship race will get recognized as a podium team with a stage appearance and a trophy. Alabama's top finishing team will also be recognized regardless of overall place. The top 30 individual finishers will get a shirt, and the overall winner gets a trophy as well.
According to current results and projections, the top 5 teams on the boy's side are as follows:
Brentwood - Honorable mention in the MileSplit50 national rankings. They're definitely top 5 in the Southeast Region after the last two weeks of competition.
o From Tennessee, the Bruins are coming off a strong 4th place showing at The Southern Showcase and a dominant win at The Wingfoot Classic in Georgia this past weekend. They're one of the few teams in the southeast who have the capability of putting 5 guys under 16 minutes on any given weekend.
McCallie School - One of TN's strongest teams
· Sporting a very strong 1-5 compression, the guys from Chattanooga are bringing a lot of talent to Oakville. They're looking to knock off some of the strongest teams AL has to offer as well as their TN counterparts in Brentwood.
Hoover - Dominated the Black and Gold Classic & are now the #1 AL team.
· Hoover ran very well this past weekend to take over the top spot in the state of Alabama with a low 41 second 1-5 split. Led by senior Elijah Joseph the Bucs will look to continue this trend this weekend amongst a much deeper field on the AL state course.
Huntsville - AL's current #2 team based on a state-wide virtual meet.
o Huntsville finished just outside of the podium at their home meet a couple weeks back & looks to have taken this past weekend off from racing. The Panthers will likely be motivated to close the gap between themselves and the likes of Brentwood as they saw a sizable point spread develop between them and the Bruins at The Southern Showcase.
Vestavia Hills - Ran strong at the Wingfoot Classic to finish third overall.
· Henry Strand, younger brother of AL running legend Ethan Strand, and Alex Leath lead the Rebels into the Jesse Owens Classic coming off a strong performance in Georgia this past weekend.