On Thursday, September 26, the Vestavia Hills Cross Country team began their eight-hour bus ride to Arkansas to compete in the Chile Pepper Festival. They stopped for lunch at Chick-fil-A in West Memphis about four hours in. Thursday was mainly a travel day for the team as they arrived at the hotel around 4 pm. After unpacking their luggage, the team did a 45-minute shakeout run to get blood flow back into their legs after the long bus ride. For dinner, athletes had several options: Logan’s Road House, Wood Stone Craft Pizza, Kobe Hibachi, Red Robin, and Olive Garden. Staying at a hotel close to many restaurants allowed athletes the freedom to choose what they wanted to eat as their “the night before, the night before” meal. Coach Anderson and Coach Terino put a lot of emphasis on eating a carbo-loaded meal two nights before a race and hydrating a lot as “TNB, TNB” is the most important night before race day.
On Friday, they were able to preview the course which had a lot of turns and hills. There were many cornfields around the course which is a change of scenery compared to the plentiful amount of trees in Alabama. To kill some time, the team went bowling on Friday evening. The team had a blast and it was a great team bonding moment. For their pre-race dinner, Olive Garden was catered to the hotel. The team went to bed early for their race the next day.
Early Saturday morning, everyone packed their luggage, ate breakfast, and hopped back on the bus to head off to the race course. Both boys and girls brought back great results! Kicking off the meet, the “Caliente” girls ran at 8 am. They finished as the seventh-place girls team in their division! Additionally, these girls put seven girls under the 20-minute barrier for 5k with an impressive 24-second split between the first and fifth runners! Junior AJ Litty was the top runner for Vestavia Hills finishing in 47th place with a time of 19:09.30. This was a huge PR for her! Also, it happened to be AJ’s birthday too! What a great birthday gift!
Next, the “Caliente” boys were up. They finished as the third-place boys team in their division. Junior JT Hayes had a ninth-place finish with a time of 15:30.60. This was also a big PR for him! Additionally, JT Hayes was named Alabama Player of the Week for his performance at Chile Pepper which is an incredibly high achievement for athletes to receive. Congratulations to him!
At almost 1 pm, the Open Girls division competed. During their race, “Fein” by Travis Scott and “Starships” by Nicki Minaj blasted through the speakers as the athletes climbed a long incline hill. With all the spectators cheering and music blasting, they finished first in their division. Junior Angela Zhang led the team placing fifth overall with a time of 20:42.90. Other girls who scored points towards the first-place finish included senior Jasmine Zhang, freshman Genevieve Gammill, senior Kendall Feild, and sophomore Kate McKinnon.
The Open Boys division raced after at 1:35. They also finished in first place. Sophomore Daniel Johnson had an individual first-place finish in his division with a time of 16:19.00. This was also a PR for him! Additionally, junior Ethan Meadow finished in the top ten with a time of 17:07.20. The Vestavia Hills Cross Country team gave it their all on the course at Arkansas with many fast times and forever memories. Congratulations to all who ran!
The Cross Country team is competing in the 33rd annual Husky Challenge at Hewitt-Trussville on Saturday, October 19. The Varsity girls kick off the race at 8 am followed by the Varsity boys at 8:30 am. Come out and support these talented athletes as they race in their last in-season meet before JV Champs and Sectionals! Go Rebels!
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