Moving time
Depth is currency in the sport of cross-country, and this fall the Spain Park High School boys team is swimming in riches.
The Jaguars return their top 15 runners from a season ago, six of whom have broken 17 minutes for 5K. That combination of experience and talent has the team believing it can snap a four-year absence from the state meet — and make some noise when it’s there.
“This year more than ever we feel like we can push for a state title,” said senior Isaac Shore. “It’s something we’ve never won before, and we haven’t really been that successful in the past. But with everyone, the majority of us seniors, it’s kind of our last push. It’s the last opportunity, and we’re confident in our ability.”
Part of the reason Spain Park hasn’t advanced past sectionals since 2012 can be traced to the stiff competition. Class 7A, Section 3 is widely regarded as the fastest qualifier in the state, as it boasts perennial contenders in Mountain Brook and Hoover, along with quality squads like Vestavia Hills and Oak Mountain.
But graduations across the area have opened the doors for Spain Park.
The timing appears to be right for the Jags’ rising crop of talent, which head coach Michael Zelwak said is tightly knit both on and off the course. Only 21 seconds separated the personal bests of the team’s first and sixth runners in 2016.
The key to its success will be sustaining the cohesiveness.
“I just think it’s going to be consistency and a little bit of fight,” Zelwak said. “They’re going to have to put in the work now, and they’re doing that.”
Zelwak’s front group logged up to 70 miles per week during the summer to lay an aerobic base for the fall. The goal is for the mileage to translate into seconds shed on the clock.
Morgan Becker, a senior, holds the fastest personal best from a season ago. He placed 31st at the state meet, for which he qualified as an individual, with a time of 16 minutes, 34 seconds. But his teammates were hot on his heels. Sophomore Charlie Trower has run 16:35, and junior Jacob Warner has run 16:36.
Trower enters the season coming off a promising outdoor track campaign. He advanced to the state meet in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs, recording remarkably fast times as a freshman. He ran 4:34 in the 1,600 and 9:52 in the 3,200.
Warner battled an injury for much of the spring, but his coach said he’s poised for a comeback. “He’s hungry and fired up and ready to go,” Zelwak said.
Cole Dillard, Elijah McKinley and Shore round out the team’s leading returners. Considering their close time proximity to the top three, any of them could emerge as the team’s forerunner on a given day.
That isn’t quite the case for the Spain Park girls.
The Lady Jags lost six of their top seven runners, including leaders Isabel Caddo and M.K. Tedder, from a 2016 squad that posted a seventh-place finish at state.
Holland Lidikay, a sophomore, is the lone scoring returner.
“We’re obviously going to be building there,” Zelwak said, “but I like what I see.”