By David St. Louis
While the Great American Cross Country Festival may no longer be held at Veterans Park in Hoover, Alabama, they still have what should be considered a Great American Cross Country Course. The course had its way with plenty of athletes today, as did the temperatures which rose into the upper-80’s at some points. Adam Jones (Columbus HS, GA) and Carmen Carlos (McGill Toolen Catholic, AL) survived the elements and the course better than the rest as both claimed victories, in 16:31 and 18:30 respectively. As for the team race, it was dominant front-running, with a little patience, that paved the way for both All-American Race Champions.
Jones (pictured left) entered with the fastest time on the year among all entrants, but didn’t have much consistency to go along with it. Last weekend, he blazed a 15:29 at the Westover Invitational, but before that, it was a 16:37 that marked the fastest performance of his season. “My coach always wants me to go out fast and kind of stick with the lead guys, but the past two times I’ve done that I’ve kind of died at a mile and a half. “ In what was a wide-open race early, Jones did the smart thing in the heat, sit back and watch as a pair of Morristown-West athletes took the lead through the first mile and a half before succumbing to the heat and the pace and finishing out of the top five. “I kind of wanted to stick about 7th to 10th place and hopefully they would die down. Then I got to 3rd place and I was like, ‘Hey, maybe I can win this one!’“ It was a nice showing by Jones who noted that last year, he was definitely in the shadow of teammate Charlie Sparks (now at the University of Georgia), but feels that coaching and his faith have played the biggest role in his improvement. “I really love my coach, but I couldn’t do anything without God. My motto for every race is: Believe in your training and glorify him through it.”
Behind Jones, Paul Stuart started the charge for the Brentwood squad that used the same strategy and Jones as they worked up throughout the race and outdistanced a Morristown-West squad that paid dearly for the early pace. Stuart was 2nd overall in 16:33 and his Brentwood teammates weren’t that far behind, finishing 4th, 5th, 14th, and 31st in the team scoring to combine for their 56 point total, while Morristown-West posted 71 behind 6th and 9th place efforts by their first two finishers. Mountain Brook boys pulled down a score of 103 to claim 3rd place and first among Alabama schools.
Carmen Carlos (photo left in black) was definitely a favorite coming in after claiming an XC state title last season as a freshman at McGill Toolen Catholic. Carlos, who hasn’t lost yet this year, was understanding of the quality of the course, but also recognized that the strength of its make-up can force you to get down to racing. “I was thinking, like ‘Wow, this is some good competition up here (at the front).’ I was just thinking that I’ll just stay with this group through the first mile and see how it goes.“ Carlos was surprised by the strength of the individuals in the girls’ field, noting the number of contenders early, but made sure to focus on getting up “Spain Pain,” the monster hill just past the 4k mark on this course and work through it to the end. “(This course) is tough. I mean, you have so many hills. It’s not a course you get a PR on.” Going forward, Carmen talked about being aware of the need for her to continue to work on developing race plans and trying to execute them, “Just work on competing. (Work on) be able to decide what to do in a race before, you know, even if you have a plan and it doesn’t work, you’ve got to be able to improvise.”
Carlos’ improvisation left a solid field behind, as Hannah Jumper (The Baylor School, TN), Bridget Blake (Dr. Phillips), and Rachel Roberts (John Carroll) all came up short on a very hot day. Jumper’s 2nd place finish (18:38) helped lead The Baylor School to a big win as the squad totaled just 47 points with their first four athletes among the first 10 among the team scorers. Blake’s Dr. Phillips team placed 2nd overall with 111 points, while a very young team from Bowling Green, KY took 3rd with 121. Bowling Green’s front four is comprised of all freshman, while their current 5th runner is just a sophomore and they showed very strongly with their first three runners finishing among the top fifteen overall.
The story of the day, though, might have been the course. After having hosted such meets as the Great American Cross Country Festival, NXN Southeast, and this Southeast XC Showdown, the Veterans Park course had a press conference today announcing it as the host for this year’s USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships. This comes after the course will already have the NCAA D1 South Regional here on November 13th. Steve Bedsole discussed with me some of the things that have made this course so successful and it comes down to the idea that it is only used for cross-country and the Hoover group has been very direct about making running a priority. It is a wonderful venue and the atmosphere was amazing all day long with a DJ on the side, elaborate decorations marking the start and finish areas of the course, a marching band, and plenty of great competition.
The Southeast XC Showdown was definitely another incredible success and the Veterans Park course held up to another group of hotly contested races. In only its second year, this meet has drawn nicely from the regional area and should continue to as it is a great venue and is a very well run meet. We should have pictures and a couple interviews posted from the days events later this weekend. Hoover hopes to see you next year!
