The Vestavia Hills Cross Country team traveled to Oakville, Alabama to compete in the state championship. The team headed there the day prior in order to fully prepare for the race; they arrived at the course for a quick pre-race shakeout and race course preview before stopping at Chick-fil-A for lunch, after which they checked into their hotel and rested in advance of an eventful day.
On the day of the competition, the boys’ and girls’ teams both delivered impressive results. The girls’ races took place at 11:10 a.m., and the boys ran at 12:15 p.m. The girls’ team finished fourth overall. Anna James Litty took eighth place with a time of 19:02.25, almost breaking her record and earning her an all-state honors title—an award recognizing athletes who finish in the top fifteen. Other honorable mentions from the girls’ team include Abby Allen and Angela Zhang, who finished seventeenth and eighteenth respectively. For the boys’ team, JT Hayes finished sixth, Daniel Johnson finished ninth, Mitchell Schaaf finished thirteenth, James Bentley finished fourteenth, and Ethan Meadows finished fifteenth. Each earned a medal as well as an all-state honors. Overall, the boys finished second with 57 points.
To help make sense of cross country scoring, the following is a breakdown of the scoring system. In brief, the team with the fewest points wins. Points are scored by the top five runners on each team; at state meets, each team consists of ten athletes. Each runner’s points are determined by their place—for example, a runner who finishes first will earn one point, and a sixth-place finisher will earn six. After five runners have finished, the number of points the remaining runners score doesn’t match their placement; rather, they earn points according to their placement but subtract the first five runners’ scores. Still, those remaining runners’ scores are used as tiebreakers, so the sixth runner is no less important than the first five. A perfect score in cross country is 15 points, with runners finishing in first, second, third, fourth, and fifth place.
Most cross country runners will be taking a break from running until track begins, but for some, the season is not yet over. Seven girls and seven guys will run in a regional competition in North Carolina on Saturday, November 23. Wish them the best of luck as they try to qualify for nationals!
For more pictures and information, check out the team’s Instagram page!
@1rebeltrackxc
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