Jags, Eagles run to victory at Oak Mountain cross-country invitational
Spain Park's Mary Katherine Tedder captured a fourth-place finish in the varsity girls cross country race at the Oak Mountain Invitational at Heardmont Park Saturday, leading her Jags to the team title.
Spain Park placed its top five in the top 19, totaling 51 points.
The Jags finished 20 points ahead of runner-up Oak Mountain.
"We've had a mindset all year that our goal is, one step at a time, making it to state and pushing our way to the top," Tedder said. "We've been working hard in practice, and that has really corresponded to our races."
Tedder clocked a time of 20:57.09, 49 seconds behind the race winner, John Carroll Catholic's Lindsey Granier.
Granier opened up an early lead and never looked back. She crossed the line in 20:08.74, 14 seconds ahead of Tuscaloosa County's Ashley Eavenson and 22 seconds ahead of her teammate, Bella Restrepo.
"My race plan was to go out with the front group and go with the girls from John Carroll, but that didn't really happen," Tedder said, "so I kind of waited until we got on the last back half of the course, and that's when I really started to try to push myself."
Oak Mountain freshman Evie Bell finished fifth in 21:04.6, rounding out the race's top contingent.
Spain Park's Isabel Caddo (10th, 21:21.69), Holland Lidikay (21:38.0), Lily Pudlik (22:09.22) and Alyssa Gaston (22:28.06) helped carry the Jaguar girls to the team title.
Varsity boys
On the boys side, Oak Mountain defended its home turf. Led by Caleb Van Geffen's second-place finish, the Eagles placed five runners in the top eight positions of the varsity boys race. The collective effort pushed the Eagles to a 24-point victory over runner-up Hewitt-Trussville, as Oak Mountain bested its Class 7A, Section 3 foe, 27-51.
"So far, so good," Van Geffen said. "We're performing well for the races we're running in."
Van Geffen, a senior, crossed the 5K finish line in 16 minutes, 58.76 seconds, which was 14 ticks behind Hewitt-Trussville's John Ngaruiya.
Ngaruiya won the race in 16:44.08, and his teammate, Austin Atkinson, finished third in 17:18.98.
Van Geffen said that his plan coming into the race was to try and stick with Ngaruiya, who placed eighth at last year's 7A state cross-country meet. For the first two miles, Van Geffen stuck to that strategy. But in the race's final third, Ngaruiya pulled away.
Van Geffen said that he made one last surge with just about a half-mile remaining, but by then, Ngaruiya had already created an insurmountable gap.
"I just took it out. I tried to get John, but he was too far ahead at that point," Van Geffen said.
Oak Mountain's Chris Tate (17:30.33) and Spain Park's Charlie Trower (17:32.20) rounded out the race's top five.
Trower, a freshman, has come on strong this season for Spain Park. Twice in the past three meets, he has emerged as the Jags' top runner.
"Running with these older kids has made me stronger, and it's made the difference," Trower said.
A trio of Eagles finished behind Trower to round out Oak Mountain's scoring five. Matthew Hazelwood (17:39.47), Jonah Barrett (17:42.15) and Bryce Keefover (17:47.21) placed sixth through eighth, respectively.
"Today we had five in the top eight, so I can't complain at all," Van Geffen said.
Most area cross-country teams, including Oak Mountain and Spain Park, will return to action next Saturday at the Jesse Owens Classic in Oakville.