“We have two choices here today. We can either make Grissom’s season a fairy tale, or we can turn it into a horror book.”
Admittedly, those were not my words. Those were the words of Co-Captain Caleb Johnson. It was the absolute perfect statement at the perfect time. Not only was it Halloween, but one of Grissom’s freshman runners had been tragically struck by a car while on a morning run. Thankfully, he survived and is doing well at physical therapy. Our entire team signed a card and sent it to the runner’s family, and his family thanked us gracefully, wishing us good luck at Sectionals and State. To qualify for the State Championship, we would have to finish top four as a team. Were we to qualify, every runner on the sectionals team would be privileged with running at State.
“I want to turn every single Grissom runner’s season into a horror book. They’re running for [the guy who was struck by the car], and I don’t want them to have a fairy tale.”
And a horror book they received.
The Results
7A Boys 5K Results
Place, Name and Grade – Time
16. Roman Hanson (10) – 17:26.60
17. Owen Lang (12) – 17:30.09
20. Eric Joy (12) – 17:42.08
23. Caleb Johnson (12) – 17:50.74
25. Luke Allen (12) – 17:56.81
26. Owen Johnston (10) – 17:58.15
34. Jake Bryan (11) – 18:19.46
45. Jacob Sigler (12) – 19:06.54
46. Jackson Clemons (12) – 19:13.38
50. Micah Meeker (8, JMS) – 19:35.46
Alternates: Alex Horn (11), Chase Lehmann (8, DMS)
Total Runners: 76
Team Scores
Place, School – Score, Average, 0-5 Split (time difference between first and fifth runner):
1. Huntsville – 24, 16:14, 0:47
2. Florence – 70, 17:10, 1:45
3. Bob Jones – 93, 17:41, 0:30
4. James Clemens – 104, 17:30, 2:29
5. Grissom – 115, 17:56, 0:25
6. Sparkman – 135, 18:03, 2:24
7. Austin – 232, 20:42, 1:08
8. Albertville – 236, 20:38, 2:54
Total Teams: 8
Weather: cloudy, wind gusts of 20 mph.
Analysis
While our placement was excellent, our times were surprisingly mediocre. There was only one PR, but we ran well enough to secure ourselves a spot at State comfortably – along with earning our highest Sectionals placement since 2021. Hanson, Lang, and myself beat all the Grissom runners. Us three along with Johnson, Allen, and Johnston beat all but two of the JC runners. The reason why JC’s average is so much faster than ours is that the winner of the race, Luke Alverson, wore those disgusting blue colors. Due to this, they will almost certainly beat us at State, which is unfortunate. Huntsville’s runners are saving their energy for State, hence why their average was above 16:00. Florence’s top two runners led the race for the first 1.5 miles, but they were overtaken and fell in the standings. Austin’s 7th place result is their best since moving to 7A, and they actually seem to be a program on the rise. All in all, this was a great day for Bob Jones Boys XC.
7A Girls 5K Results
Place, Name and Grade – Time
8. Molly Halter (12) – 20:10.63
10. Ami Marks (10) – 20:15.10
14. Sarah Allison (9) – 20:47.48
19. Elise Marks (8) – 21:50.57
23. Aaliyah Wright (12) – 22:11.19
29. Charlotte Droege (12) – 22:52.62
33. Bailey Lehmann (8) – 23:16.22
35. Adaline McGuire (9) – 23:21.87
39. Zoe Pacillo (8) – 23:58.52
43. Cindy Liao (12) – 24:18.46
Alternates: Anjana Raman (9)
Total Runners: 74
Weather: Cloudy, wind gusts of 10 mph
Team Scores
Place, School – Score, Time, 0-5 Split
1. Huntsville – 21, 19:47, 1:01
2. James Clemens – 68, 20:57, 3:58
3. Bob Jones – 69, 21:02, 2:00
4. Florence – 124, 22:37, 2:29
5. Grissom – 127, 22:42, 4:04
6. Sparkman – 165, 23:46, 2:22
7. Albertville – 179, 23:56, 3:13
8. Austin – 217, 25:17, 6:10
Total Teams: 8
Analysis
This is an exceptional result for the girls. Only two years ago, they failed to qualify for State entirely. Yesterday, they were one point away from obtaining second place, which is realistically the highest place any team not named Huntsville can achieve at this race. Like the guys, they easily qualified for State.
End of Results
Here are some comical pictures of the varsity guys at the last stretch of the race (From top to bottom: Roman Hanson, Owen Lang, Eric Joy, Caleb Johnson, Luke Allen, Owen Johnston, Jake Bryan, Jacob Sigler, Jackson Clemons, and Micah Meeker):
P.S. 2nd Annual Boys V. Girls Post-Sectionals Soccer Match!
Boys 1 – Girls 5, Boys won on forfeit. Boys lead the series 2-0.
