After Great American, the Flrunners.com Invitational, and the Jesse Owens Classic claimed much of the attention in the Southeast Region last weekend, a strong group of squads will make their way to Veterans Park in Hoover, Alabama this weekend for the 2nd edition of the Southeast XC Showdown. Last year’s Girls All-American Race champion Carmen Carlos (McGill-Toolen Catholic, AL) is back and on a hot streak after having won the Jesse Owens Classic last weekend in a scorching time of 17:36. Returning also is the boys’ squad from Brentwood, which took home the team title from last year’s Boys All-American Race. It’s a new year, so here is a closer look at the layout of the races scheduled for this weekend.
It’s been an amazing year for Carlos since she started to make herself known here last year. She claimed a state cross-country title (running 17:43 for the win), then placed 16th at the Foot Locker South Regional (in 17:49), claimed state titles in both the 1600 (5:05.49) and 3200 meter (11:01) distances, and dropped her 1600 time down to 4:51.51 with her performance in winning the Golden South Classic. This XC season, she has already posted wins at the Mobile Challenge of Champions, Azalea City Classic, and Jessie Owens Classic, setting a new personal best of 17:36 in the process. This weekend, she will be tested by Bridget Blake of Dr. Phillips HS (Orlando, FL) who brings in her own list of impressive credentials.
Blake was runner-up in Florida’s Class 4A state cross-country championships last fall before following that with matching runner-up performances in her own state track and field championships (5:05 for 1600 and 11:08 for 3200). After a slow start and some struggles in September, she pulled down another runner-up performance last weekend at the Flrunners.com Invitational, running 17:45 in the process. With plenty of experience playing the bridesmaid, Blake will definitely come into the weekend looking to take home her first big invite title and to keep the momentum going forward this year.
Rachel Roberts of John Carroll (Birmingham, AL) and Kristin Parry of Prattville (Prattville, AL) also enter with some strong showings this year, but Blake and Carlos clearly look like the class of the field.
The team picture looks to be very interesting with squads from four different states making bids for the hardware this weekend. Carmen Carlos will lead her McGill-Toolen Catholic squad in and they will look to use Carlos’ and teammate Sage Blackwell’s low scores to get them into good position. Tennessee-representative, The Baylor School, hangs their team hopes on the success of two talented frontrunners names Hannah Jumper and Tenley Godfrey. The pair have both posted times under 19 minutes already this year and will look to state their squad to an early lead this weekend. Niceville HS out of Florida brings in a stable group that is led by sophomore Marsel Mosley, while the Bowling Green, Kentucky ladies have a great 1-4 that will make everyone work to match-up with them. On paper, there are only six points separating those four squads, but look for Dr. Phillips (FL) and Columbus (GA) to also be in contention as well.
To say that this year’s version of the Boys All-American Race is wide open is really only scratching the surface the list of athletes in the chase for the win is very long. Jacob Fuller of Huntsville (Huntsville, AL) and Spain Park’s Brandon Hazouri (Hoover, AL) ran almost identical times at Jesse Owens last weekend (16:05 to 16:06), though they were in different races. Brentwood’s Ryan Gadsey laid down a quick 16:04 on the flat and fast E. P. Tom Sawyer Course in Louisville, KY, while teammates Nathan Thomas and Paul Stuart weren’t far behind, running 16:07 and 16:12 respectively. Columbus, Georgia’s Adam and Preston Jones posted fast times at the Westover Invitational last weekend and will look to back them up this weekend as well. Cordaryl Whitehead (Opelika, AL) has the fastest time posted for the Alabama entrants, but that performance (at the LaGrange Invitational on 9-25) has been his only performance under 17 minutes this year, so he will look to make some believers this weekend as well.
As for the team race, Tennessee squads Brentwood and Morristown-West seem to be the frontrunners and have very similar layouts. Brentwood posted their first three under 16:15 at the Greater Louisville Classic, while Morristown-West, which placed 3rd at Jesse Owens last weekend, has four athletes who have laid down times under 16:35. Niceville (FL) will make it difficult for both these squads as they posted a 30-second split for their 1-5 this weekend at the Flrunners.com Invitational, keying off lead man Thomas Howell to get the group in position.
We are looking forward to another great event hosted by the Hoover crew and another chance to see some of the best young boys and girls in the Southeast Region as we move closer to each state’s postseason. Stay tuned all weekend for updates, pictures, interviews, and a recap of all the days events.