By David Knox, Sports Editor
MOULTON – Hewitt-Trussville’s John Ngaruiya came up one-tenth of a second short in his bid to win the Class 7A state title at the AHSAA State Cross Country Championships at Oakville Indian Mounds course on Saturday.
Hoover’s Tommy McDonough took the honors, running the 5K course in 15:39.70 to Ngaruiya’s 15:39.80, nipping the Husky star at the tape. It was a personal record for McDonough, while Ngaruiya was about 4 seconds off his best.
Ngaruiya earned All-State honors with his second-place finish.
Hewitt-Trussville finished seventh with 162 points. Auburn took the team championship with 59 points to Mountain Brook’s 69.
Austin Atkinson (16:24.32) was 21st, Josh Jenkins (16:55.07) was 48th, Carson Spruiell (17:16.52) was 63rd, Graham Bianchi (17:25.46) was 74th, Damon Purdy (17:28.21) was 76th and eighth-grader Nathan Knox (17:51.12) was 103rd. Those runners earned points of 18-36-49-57-59-74 to go with Ngaruiya’s 2.
Other Husky runners included freshman Mac Brooks (108), Aaron Dykes (117) and Micah Smith (128).
The Hewitt-Trussville girls team did not qualify for state, but eighth-grader Amelia Brady qualified as an individual and raced home in 11th place to earn All-State honors. She ran the 5K course in 18:53.59. Sophomore Sydney Hall also qualified and she came home in a respectable 19:48.27, good for 37th overall.
Huntsville captured the girls 7A crown by 10 points over Mountain Brook (51 to 61), ending the Lady Spartans’ 13-year dominance. Auburn was third, Hoover fourth and Grissom fifth. Mountain Brook’s Anna Grace Morgan closed out her cross country career by taking the girls individual title, finishing in 17:46.01, a personal record.
In Class 6A, Homewood took the championship, but Pinson Valley’s Vondrecus Miller ran a 17:05.85 to finish 13th and earn All-State honors. Seth Lord ran 18:09.03 for 62nd.
Center Point’s Jaylen Stephens ran 19:33.43 and was 133rd.