By Rubin E. Grant
For Homewood senior Emma Brooke Levering, the state cross-country meet was twice as nice.
Levering won her second consecutive Class 6A title in convincing fashion, clocking 17:46.94 on the 5K Oakville Indian Mounds Park course last Saturday in the 69th AHSAA Cross Country Championships.
Levering’s time was the fastest of the day among girls in every classification.
“It’s honestly everything I could’ve dreamed of from high school cross-country,” Levering said. “I’m super happy with the result.
“The goal was just to go out and compete. I knew going into it that I had a pretty solid bid to win, but obviously nothing is guaranteed until you go out and do it. I’m super happy with the time also, although obviously am always hungry to run faster.”
Levering, who recently committed to Penn State, also gave a nod to her teammates for their encouragement.
“I am just so proud of the girls around me who have driven me to this point,” she said. “Nothing would have been possible without them, and I’m so proud of them for bringing home a team runner-up trophy.
“It feels crazy that it was my last race, but I couldn’t have asked for teammates with more drive and positivity than them.”
Spain Park junior Remy Richards finished second behind Levering with a time of 18:15.55. She was followed by two runners from Mountain Brook, sophomore Anna Erdberg (18:24.47) and freshman Emelia White (18:26.83).
Spartans Girls Extend Streak
The Mountain Brook girls won their fourth consecutive title by a wide margin. The Spartans totaled 44 points, and Homewood was second with 99. Briarwood finished fourth with 181 points and Spain Park fifth with 185.
Mountain Brook senior Kennedy Hamilton finished 12th (19:06.64) and sophomore Francesca Demarco (19:06.89) was just behind her as both earned All-State honors. Sophomore Caroline Russell was 19th with a time of 19:35.28.
Spain Park’s Madison Harvey was eighth (18:48.81), and Briarwood’s Mary Grace Parker was 10th (19:04.14), just ahead of teammate Lena Anne Parker (19:05.50).
Homewood’s Bailey Zinn also earned All-State honors by finishing 14th (19:07.35).
Mountain Brook Boys Three-Peat
The Mountain Brook boys won the Class 6A team title for the third consecutive year with 62 points. Cullman was second with 126 and Homewood third with 134.
The Spartans had five runners in the top 20 – Oliver Mange 13th (16:05.30), Brooks Bazemore 15th (16:06.18), Ethan Schniper 16th (16:09.28), William Morgan 18th (16:15.24), and Hudson Rukstalis-William 19th (16.15.89). Joseph Spencer was 25th (16:35.93).
Hazel Green’s Bryce McCleary won the 6A boys individual title with a personal-record time of 14:55.11.
Rebels Boys Finish Second
Oak Mountain senior John Shoemaker finished third in the Class 7A boys race with a time of 15:26.52. Huntsville’s Eric Moore won it with a time of 14:52.81 and James Clemens’ Luke Aversion was second with a time of 14:53.58.
Huntsville won the team title with 48 points, and Vestavia Hills was second with 57. Hoover was fourth with 111 points and Oak Mountain fifth with 135.
The Rebels had five runners earn All-State by finishing in the top 15 – John Hayes sixth (15:38.58), Daniel Johnson ninth (15:43.00), Mitchell Schaaf 13th (16:06.21), James Bentley 14th (16:06.99) and Ethan Meadows 15th (16:09.80).
Hoover Girls Fall Just Short
The Hoover girls came up just short of winning the Class 7A title, finishing one point behind Auburn 57-58. Vestavia Hills was fourth with 108 points.
Auburn’s Sarah Tole won her third straight 7A girls individual title with a time of 18:13.06 as she helped the Tigers win the team championship for the second straight season and the seventh in the past eight years.
The Bucs placed Ava Sparks (18:17.11), Catherine Wallace (18:36.39) and Amelia Vann (18:45.62) in second, third and fourth, respectively, in a strong finish.
Vestavia Hills’ Anna James Kitty was eighth (19:02.25), and Oak Mountain’s Ava Fields was 10th (19:13.40).
Other Noteworthy Performances
The Altamont girls finished runners-up in Class 4A with 95 points. Whitesburg Christian Academy won easily with 48 points.
Altamont had three runners in the top 20 – Laura Spann 11th (20:04.71), Mary Spann 13th (20:19.42) and Elle Sellers 20th (20:49.64).
Catherine Hinson of Indian Springs was second individually (19:01.10) behind White Plains’ Maddyn Conn (18:15.48), who won her third straight title
In the boys Class 4A race, Altamont’s Raju Sudarshan was fourth (16:39.35). Bayshore Christian Caden Phillippi won his win second straight individual Class 4A title, clocking 15:33.72.
In the boys 5A race, Weaver Caldwell of Westminster-Oak Mountain was second (16:15.10) behind Scottsboro freshman Ryder Linville, who won in 16:01.50.
