Brewer runners set individual marks

By By Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
OAKVILLE - Brewer runners stepped up big in the biggest cross country meet of the season Saturday.
The Patriots had 11 runners get personal records in the Gold Elite division, while two others recorded season bests in the ninth annual Jesse Owens Invitational at the Oakville Indian Mounds Park.
The course will be the site of the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s state meet in November.
Brewer’s girls, led by Emily Trotter’s personal best time of 19:52.15, finished 21st in the team standings.
The 12 race divisions had more than 4,000 entries, making it the largest race in the state.
Trotter finished 16th overall.
Bree Watkins ran a season’s best 21:29.07 and finished 77th.
The Lady Patriots also got personal bests from Katie Brakke, Angel Childers and Kaitlin Kurtz.
Brewer had seven boys’ set personal bests in the large school division.
Clay Oden, Juan Rodriguez, Jose Rodriguez, Jordan Caudle, Cameron Cunningham, Clint Murphree and Ethan Sharp had personal bests.
Oden led the Patriots with a 48th place finish after completing the 5,000-meter course in 17:24.68.
Sam Martin was 103rd overall with an 18:11.56.
Also scoring for the Patriots was Fernando Arellanes, Juan Rodriguez, Phillip Garrison, Jose Rodriguez and Jordan Caudle
Falkville’s Natalee Estes was 162nd overall among 265 finishers in the girls’ bronze division for small schools with a time of 27:08.20.
The Blue Devils’ Michael Hopper was 276th at 24:10.61, while Evan Cottingham ran a 24:14.74 to finish 280th out of 349 finishers.