Patriots girls finish 2nd at state cross-country

The Homewood High School girls cross country team earned a second-place finish in the Class 6A division of the state cross-country meet at Oakville Indian Mounds Park on Nov. 6. 

Mountain Brook dominated the meet, taking up half of the top 10 in the girls race and scoring just 26 points. Homewood finished with 104 points, well ahead of Scottsboro’s 131 points in third place.

The team was led by freshman Emma Brooke Levering, finishing fifth overall with a time of 18:34. Levering was followed by Sydney Dobbins (18th, 19:25), Caroline Wilder (28th, 19:59), Sarah Kemper (29th, 19:59), Bailey Zinn (30th, 20:01), Jane Fowlkes (31st, 20:05) and Sophia Forrestall (53rd, 20:45). 

“The girls probably ran the best they have all season,” said Josh Donaldson, head coach of the Homewood cross-country team. “We knew going into it, Mountain Brook was going to be pretty dominant on their side, especially having some of their top runners back from last year.” 

Donaldson said even though he knew it would be a challenge to beat Mountain Brook, he also knew that there were other teams with a mission of beating Homewood, which made him even more pleased with how the girls competed.

The boys team finished fifth at the state meet as well. Scottsboro won, with Mountain Brook finishing second. Chelsea and Cullman were also ahead of the Patriots.

The Homewood team was led by junior Andrew Laird (15th, 16:13), who was followed by Grayton Murray (21st, 16:30), Jack Harchelroad (35th, 16:48), Sam Gray (50th, 17:04), Foster Laird (78th, 17:36), Cole Bedics (88th, 17:46) and Ethan Bagwell (90th, 17:47). 

Donaldson said going into the meet, the Patriots knew it would be a challenge to place as high as they have in the past, as the team was suffering from a few injuries during the season. 

“We also knew, with that challenge, we could step up and do really well,” Donaldson said. “We had a guy who had been injured all season come back without doing many workouts or runs and he ran well for us.” 

Donaldson said he was pleased how the boys team ran overall. As individuals, he said they ran some of their best times of the season. 

“As a team, it’s not as good as we’ve done in the past but still a good performance for where we were in our season,” Donaldson said.