By Johnny Sanders, For The Tribune
SPRINGVILLE — On Saturday, October 8, Terri and Dean Goforth, owners of Homestead Hollow, invited more than 200 athletes and their parents and communities out to their beautiful property for the second-annual Springville Open Cross-Country Meet at Homestead Hollow. Hosted by Springville High School, teams from area schools Leeds, Moody, Shades Valley, Clay-Chalkville, and host Springville all finished in the top 5 in individual and team divisions.
“Having a home meet is very important for us. This is the second year we’ve had one. Before that, we had never done that in the history of the school,” said Steve Watson, Cross Country coach for Springville. “A lot of hard work has gone into this.”
When asked about his expectations of his team, Watson said, “The kids have got to improve. We don’t go by rankings or what’s in the past. We have got to push forward. These kids have the drive to do that.”
Springville’s David Robles, when asked how he prepared for this meet and what drives him, said, “Just interval workouts, distance, eating right, and good discipline. I run for my teammates and family and just to get better.” When asked the same questions, Elliot Denard said, “Doing good workouts and being there mentally is what has prepared me for this. I run for my family.”
On the girls’ side, Springville’s Avery Daniels said, “Lots of workouts and distance running is how I have prepared, and I am driven by family and friends, and I love competition.” Teammate Carmen McMaster gave a similar sentiment, “We’ve had a really good few weeks of workouts and my teammates are what drives me.”
The morning started with the varsity girls running the 5K (3.1 miles) course. Fort Payne took home the first-place trophy while Springville finished second and Shades Valley finished fifth. Individually, McMaster (second at 19:38.95) and Daniels (fourth at 19:54.78) for the Tigers and Shades Valley’s Lauren Lindsey placed 23rd at 25:22.49, Leeds’ Emma Grace Payne placed 28th at 25:51.22. “I’m really happy with my performance considering my shoe fell off on the first lap,” said McMaster, “Everything considered, I’m really happy with it. It was a really good team effort.”
Next up was the varsity boys, also competing on the 5K course. Much like the girls, the Fort Payne boys won first place with Springville a close second and Leeds closing out the top 5. Individually, Springville’s David Robles finished second with a time of 16:32.58. Teammate Elliot Denard rounded out the top 5 at 17:07.38. Leeds’ Ronald Miller finished 23rd at 19:34.24 and Shades Valley’s Brian Moose finished 39th at 21:18.53.
David Robles said of his performance, “It was a little bit off today. I wish I could have done better. At the end of the day, I feel like I ran my race. You can’t go back and change it.”
The last race of the day was the junior varsity boys and girls combined two-mile run. Moody’s girls took the top spot in their division with Constance Argo leading the way with a fifth-place finish at 15:02.29, followed closely by Sarah Cathey in sixth at 15:31.47. “I feel pretty good about my performance except, I probably could have sprinted a little more at the end. I just enjoy running,” said Constance about the race.
On the boys’ side, Guntersville took home first place with 3 runners placed in the top 5, while Springville finished second. Moody’s Alex King had a strong showing, finishing 14th at 13:15.46. King said, “I feel really good about my performance, especially my finishing sprint to lock in the 13:15 time. As a child, I’ve always loved running. My dad ran track in high school so I would like to follow him.”
Moody coach Marybeth Eaves said, “This is the best we’ve run all season and hopefully they will go home with some good stuff. We have the best group of parents that come out and support us every Saturday whether we are 20 minutes or 2 hours away. It’s great.”
Coach Watson said, “I feel excellent. My varsity boys and girls both lost to a 6A school. We are a 5A school. The boys only lost by 5 points. This is probably one of the best team efforts by the girls this year. They dropped their team time average by almost 30 seconds. The goal is to qualify for state. Girls top 10, boys top 5.”
Asked about the meet as a whole, Watson said, “It exceeded expectations. The help I had from the parents is the reason this thing went so smoothly. We didn’t have any hiccups at all. I was just very pleased with the overall running of the meet. I didn’t have to do a whole lot.”
Parent/Volunteer Micah Colley said, “We couldn’t have done this without Terri and Dean (Goforth). They let us use this as a practice facility each week and they also let us host this race here free of charge. I cannot say enough about their contribution.”
Final Team Rankings:
Junior Varsity Girls: 1) Moody, 2) Jefferson Christian Academy, 3) Clay-Chalkville
Junior Varsity Boys: 1) Guntersville, 2) Springville
Varsity Girls: 1) Fort Payne, 2) Springville, 3) Alexandria, 4) Ashville, 5) Shades Valley, 6) Leeds
Varsity Boys: 1) Fort Payne, 2) Springville, 3) Ashville, 4) Alexandria, 5) Leeds, 6) Shades Valley
Springville will compete in the Northridge XC Invitational on Saturday, October 15 in Tuscaloosa.