Senior Kennedy Hamilton is the Spartans’ most experienced runner this fall. She also has designs on running in college. She has an offer from Auburn and has scheduled an official visit to Ole Miss.By Rubin E. Grant
With the AHSAA state cross-country meet less than a month away, Mountain Brook coach Michael McGovern believes his defending state champion Spartans are right where they need to be.
“There’s been growth every week,” McGovern said. “We’ve gotten better and better. We want to be at our best in late October and November, and we’re on track to be there.”
The Mountain Brook girls have won the past three Class 6A state championships, and the boys have won the past two. This year’s state meet is scheduled for Nov. 9 in Moulton.
McGovern likes the depth the Spartans’ boys team has displayed this fall.
“The boys team is super deep, the deepest we’ve ever been,” he said. “There’s a 12-second split from the first to sixth runner and they’re embracing it. The order is not set every week and that makes it better.”
The girls team has had an influx of youth this fall.
“The girls have a lot of new faces who have stepped up,” McGovern said. “Over the past two years, we’ve had eight girls to go run in (NCAA) Division I programs. They’re all over the place. It’s been good to see them move on.”
Among those are Reagan Riley, a sophomore at Notre Dame, Lucy Benton, a freshman at Baylor, and Mary Katherine Malone, a freshman at Auburn.
Senior Kennedy Hamilton is the Spartans’ most experienced runner this fall. She also has designs on running in college. She has an offer from Auburn and has scheduled an official visit to Ole Miss.
She also is shepherding Mountain Brook’s younger runners.
“Being a senior this year on the team has been so much fun,” Hamilton said. “We have a younger team, so being able to help teach and lead all the girls has been such a blessing.
“Going into state this year, I think our chances are really good. My goal is to help keep everyone’s nerves down and to just help the team focus on doing what they have been doing all year.”
McGovern has enjoyed seeing how Hamilton has taken the leadership mantle.
“It’s been awesome to watch,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of conversations about her stepping into a leadership role. She’s a product of the older girls who were here and now her role has shifted and she’s the one leading. We’ve already pulled up one girl from the eighth grade and it’s been fun to see Kennedy take on that mother role.”
Competitions Heat Up
Hamilton isn’t just mothering but also running well. She finished second with a time of 18:33.58 in the Chickasaw Trails Sept. 7 at Oakville Indian Mounds Park. Two weeks later, she finished second in the Spain Park Invitational with a time of 19:09.40 to lead the Spartans to team victory.
Freshman Emelia White finished fifth (19:33.13), junior Georgia Jayne Stuckey was sixth (19:38.77) and sophomore Anna Ersberg eighth (20:08.07) in the Spain Park race.
The Mountain Brook boys also won the Spain Park race with four runners finishing fourth-seventh: sophomore Brooks Bazemore (16:40.68), sophomore Oliver Mange (16:42.40), senior Hudson Rukstalis-Williams (16:49.81) and junior Braden Little (16:50.69).
The Spartans traveled to Cockeysville, Maryland, near Baltimore, the first weekend of October to compete in the Maryland XC Invitational. Both the girls and boys finished second in the top varsity races, the 5,000 Meters Black & Gold.
The girls had a score of 103, finishing behind Bethesda-Chevy Chase, which won with a score of 91. The Spartans had three runners in the top 20: Erdberg eighth (18:58.24), White 15th (19:06.44) and Hamilton 20th (19:44.54).
Bethesda-Chevy Chase senior Ani Bailin won with a time of 18:14.48.
In the boys race, Mountain Brook was a distant second with a score of 153. St. Albans from Washington, D.C., ran away from the competition with a 26 score as its seniors Sebi Hume (15:47.14), William Strong (15:51.16) and Liam Quinn (15:54.48) were the top three finishers.
Mountain Brook had six runners in the top 40: freshman William Morgan was 22nd (16:36.24), Little 29th (16:49.32), junior Joseph Spencer 30th (16:50.00), Bazemore 34th (16:55.01), Mange 38th (16:57.78) and senior Jack Chapman 40th (16:59.66).
“The travel trips we go on is always one of my favorite parts of the season,” Hamilton said. “This trip really helps to bond the whole team and make so many memories.
“The race we did really challenged the whole team and definitely made us better athletes because of how it pushed us out of our comfort zones. Racing on a new course with people we have never raced before helps everyone learn better racing tactics.”
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