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 | 11th Jesse Owens XC Invitational
Saturday, October 3, 2009 - Oakville Indian Mounds Park, Lawrence Co. AL
DyeStat on-site with Arthur Mack
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Preview: Teams from four states ready to do battle
By Arthur L. Mack
This Saturday marks the 11th annual running of the Jesse Owens Invitational Cross Country meet.
If past years are any indication, this year’s edition should be one to remember.
More than 4,000 athletes are expected to participate in the meet, which will be held at the Oakville Indian Mounds. The course—one of the most unique in cross country—is fast with a series of winding hills just before the two-mile mark called “The Snake.”
Six separate categories—Gold (Elite), Silver, Bronze, Red (junior varsity), Junior High (large) and Junior High (Small) will be contested.
For some teams, particularly the ones from Alabama, it will be a tune-up for the state championships, which will be held on the same course. Expect some fast times in addition to some spirited competition.
Here’s a preview of the upcoming competition in the three major high school divisions:
Gold (Elite): As far as team competition goes, several Alabama teams – Mountain Brook, Mobile’s McGill-Toolen Catholic and St. Paul’s Episcopal, Oak Mountain, Scottsboro, and Montgomery Academy – should be in the mix in the girls’ division.
Several Tennessee schools—Girls Prep, Brentwood Academy, and Cordova—are also in the running for team honors.
Individually, the top two Alabama runners to watch are Sparkman’s Katie Huston and McGill-Toolen’s Carmen Carlos. Carlos has been especially impressive with a third-place finish in the Mobile Challenge of Champions.
Other Alabama runners to watch include St. Paul’s Margaret Harkness, Montgomery Academy’s Maggie Rickard, and Mountain Brook’s Marie Demedicis and Catherine Diethelm.
On the boys’ side, Spanish Fort, Mountain Brook, Hoover, Scottsboro, St. Paul’s, McGill-Toolen, and Oak Mountain are the Alabama teams to watch, while Tupelo, representing the state of Mississippi, and Brentwood, representing Tennessee, are two of the out of state schools that should have a great showing.
Hoover is an interesting case—it competed in two meets in Florida during the month of September. The Bucs finished second in the Mountain Dew Invitational in Gainesville, and then 24 hours later won the Astronaut Invitational in Titusville.
Individually, watch for Spanish Fort’s Brett Hanke, Scottsboro’s Lucas Sieb, St. Paul’s Stuart Graham, and Mountain Brooks Layton Dorsett to compete for top honors, along with Hoover’s David Hudson, Bryan Propst, and Philip Henry.
Silver: A pair of Mississippi schools—Pearl (which finished third in last year’s Jesse Owens meet) and Tupelo—should be among the favorites in the Silver girls’ division.
Pearl is led by Haley Brown, Kaileigh Hunt, and Sara Roberts. All three were 2008 All-State performers, and should have strong performances in this meet.
Other out of state schools that could make an impact includes Lassiter (Georgia) and Daniel Boone (Tennessee). The top Alabama school to watch is Briarwood Christian.
The Boys’ silver division has a defending champion—Pearl—which is not only Mississippi’s 2008 4A state champions, but boasts All-State performer Alex Alexander. Other out of state schools in the field includes Lassiter of Georgia and some Tennessee schools—notably Memphis University School, Chattanooga Christian and Spring Hill.
Two Alabama schools to watch are Huntsville and Briarwood Christian.
Bronze: It could very well be a battle between Pontotoc of Mississippi, Hardin Academy of Tennessee, and several Alabama schools—Cold Springs, Bayside Academy, Randolph, Catholic-Huntsville, and host Lawrence County in the girls’ division.
Pontotoc and Lawrence County met earlier this season in the Sautillo (Miss.) Meet. Pontotoc, led by Whitney Ray, won that meet, defeating Sautillo 27-54, with Lawrence County third with 100 points. Ray ran 17 minutes, 26.62 seconds to win the girls 4K (2.5 mile) race, while Lawrence County’s Ari Stephenson was third (17:41.41). So, it could very well be an intriguing battle between those two individuals.
In addition, Bayside Academy’s Charlotte Gill and Cold Springs’ Palee Myrex could very well have great individual performances.
On the boys’ side, it could be a battle between Pontotoc, Catholic-Huntsville, Harding Academy, host Lawrence County and Bayside Academy.
Pontotoc is led by Luke Hatcher, who won individual honors at the Sautillo meet. In that meet, Pontotoc defeated another Mississippi school, Oxford 49-61, with Lawrence County third with 74 points.
Bayside Academy has the most intriguing statistic—it has the most runners in the division (29) as well as one of the top 3A track and field performers in the state in Stew Shoemaker.
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