By ARTHUR L. MACK

 

MOBILE,  Ala.— This year’s running of the Mobile Challenge of Champions Cross Country Meet may be the biggest ever, according to the number of entries that have been received in the Open and Invitational Divisions.

Action gets underway at 4 p.m. (Central) on Saturday at Langan Park.

So far, there are at least 400 runners in the open division boys’ race alone, along with 300 runners in the open girls’ race. There are 17 teams in the Invitational Girls division and 16 in the Invitational Boys division.

With a record number of schools in the meet, this year’s meet could be extremely competitive.

“I think this will be one of the best years ever,” meet director Steve Schoenewald said. “We’ve got more teams, and the quality (of competition) is better. It will be a huge crowd there (at Langan Park), and it could be hard to find parking.”

In the Invitational Boys race, Robert Hope of Mobile’s UMS-Wright is the defending individual champion, but he will face a strong challenge from several out of town runners. One of them is Thomas Howell of Niceville, who finished second in last April’s Mobile Challenge of Champions 2-mile race in 9 minutes, 26.24 seconds. He is ranked as the No. 1 cross country runner in Florida, and is considered one of the favorites.

While the majority of teams in last year’s Invitational Boys race were local, it will be different this time. Besides Niceville, there’s another Florida school, Fort Walton Beach, which returns five of its top seven runners from last year.

There are several strong teams from Mississippi. They include Ocean Springs (the 2012 Mississippi 6A state champion), St. Stanislaus (last year’s 4A state cross country champ), and Starkville, which finished second in the 5A championships.

In addition, there are several good Louisiana teams. They include Brother Martin (third in last year’s Invitational Boys division), St. Thomas More-Lafayette, and John Curtis-River Ridge. John Curtis HS, second in last year’s 2A state championships, will compete in the Challenge of Champions for the first time ever.

Local teams include UMS-Wright, Baker, Davidson, Mary G. Montgomery, Fairhope, and Spanish Fort, while other Alabama teams are Montgomery Academy and Decatur. Montgomery Academy was third in the 1A-2A state cross country championships last year.

One local team that won’t run in the Invitational Division is defending Invitational Boys’ champ McGill-Toolen. The Jackets have a team that is predominately composed of eighth and ninth graders, and as such, will not run a varsity team.

On the Invitational Girls’ side, the competition is just as fierce. There is a ton of out of state schools. Florida schools include Niceville and Fort Walton Beach, which has six of its seven top runners returning and was the Florida 3A runner-up last year.

Louisiana schools which will have a strong presence in this year’s meet include Mt. Carmel (fourth in theLouisiana 5A state meet), St. Thomas More, Mandeville (eighth in 5A), Parkway-Shreveport (third in the 5A state meet), and Catholic-Pointe Coupee (1A state champion).

Catholic-Pointe Coupee, like John Curtis, is participating in the Challenge of Champions meet for the first time.

The Mississippi schools include D’Iberville (fifth in the 5A state championships last year); Ocean Springs (defending Mississippi 6A champion); Starkville (third in the 5A state championships last year).

Ocean Springs, incidentally, is led by Kate Mattox, who was second in last April’s Challenge of Champions’ 2-mile race. Mattox is one of the nation's top freshmen. 

Mobile area schools are well represented in this year’s meet, too. McGill-Toolen-Catholic is scheduled to run, as well as UMS-Wright, the defending Invitational Girls’ champion. Other Mobile area schools include Baker, Murphy,St. Paul’s, and Fairhope, which is led by Hannah Evans, a three-time Baldwin County champion.

T.R. Miller of Brewton, which was the runner-up in last year’s Alabama 3A state cross country championships, features four-time state champion Karisa Nelson, and could finish in the top five.

Some of the individual runners to watch include Beauregard-Opelika’s Kalynn Simpson (who had runner-up finishes in the 800, 1600, and 3200 in last April’s 4A outdoor state championships, as well as a runner-up finish in last year’s 4A state cross country championships); Pass Christian (Mississippi) star Regen McGee, who was the Mississippi Gatorade Athlete of the Year last year; and Allison Ringle of Parkway-Shreveport, who was second in the Louisiana 5A state meet last year.