Brewer runners earn all-state honors
By By Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
OAKVILLE - Sam Martin took just over 17 minutes to run the 5K course at the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s Cross County Championships Saturday.
The Brewer sophomore had to wait a lot longer to find out he had earned all-state honors with a 15th place finish in the Class 5A race.
The wait was worth it.
After a scoring mistake that caused a lengthy delay in the awards ceremony bumped him down a spot among the finishers, Martin finally got his all-state award after running a 17:27.69 at the race at the Oakville Indian Mounds.
Brewer senior Emily Trotter, who finished seventh overall in the Class 5A girls’ race, also earned all-state honors in her final prep cross country race.
When AHSAA officials called for the top 15 finishers for the all-state awards, Martin was unsure if he had finished high enough for all-state honors after the scoring discussion. He didn’t go to the podium to accept his all-state award until they finally called his name.
Martin trimmed more than 1:30 off his time in the Northwest Alabama Championships on the same course just two weeks earlier.
Saturday’s finish was just Martin’s third time to run under 18 minutes in his prep career.
Clay Oden (37th, 18:31.66), Phillip Garrison (38th, 18:32.02) and Fernando Arellanes (47th, 18:39.80) all finished in the top 50 for the Patriots.
Jordan Caudle was 66th at 19:13.22, while Juan Rodriguez ran a 19:22.48 to finish 74th. Cameron Cunningham was 86th with a 19:38.00.
Caudle and Cunningham, who ran his first sub-20:00 time ever, both finished with personal records in the AHSAA state meet.
Jose Rodriguez was 100th overall, followed by Clint Murphree at 140th.
The state meet course was moved during the week after rains had caused a lake in the park to flood four different areas of the race.
Trotter closed out her cross country career with a solid run in the state meet. After missing out on all-state honors last season, Trotter’s time of 20:16.55 gave her a seventh-place finish.
Emily Trotter’s finish helped erase the bad memory of falling two spots shy of all-state honors a year earlier at the same course.
Bree Watkins and Katie Brakke both finished in the top 50 positions to help the Lady Patriots seal up a seventh place finish in Class 5A.
Watkins ran a 21:10.25 - her best time of the season - to finish 19th overall. Brakke was 41st with a time of 22:16.83.
Also running for the Lady Patriots in the state race was Angel Childers (54th, 22:51.42), Felicia Prince (129th, 28:02.81) and Kaitlin Kurtz (31:29:40).
Brakke, Childers and Prince all finished with personal records, while Watkins’ time was her best finish of the season.
Falkville had four girls qualify for the 1A-2A race with Sarah Ayre and Natalee Estes finishing 73rd and 78th respectively.
Ayre ran a 26:58.64 to lead the Lady Blue Devils. Estes finished at 27:49.64.
Katrina Koeber was 82nd after completing the course in a time of 28:07.44, while Heather Smith finished 102nd at 31:32.35.
Heath Blanchard led Falkville’s boys with a 77th place finish. He ran a 21:34.10.
The Blue Devils’ Alex Tuttle ran a 22:33.25 to finish 90th overall.
Priceville’s boys placed three runners in the top 100 in the Class 4A race with T.J. Johnson leading the way with a 36th place finish. Freshmen Spencer Johnson and Jackson Morris finished 75th and 82nd respectively.
