AHSAA Cross Country Spotlight // Pell City’s Lowe wins Wildcat Twilight Race

AHSAA Cross Country Spotlight for First Week

Pell City’s Jack Lowe Grabs Spotlight with Strong Finish to Win Wildcats Twilight Race

MONTGOMERY – Pell City High School junior Jack Loweopened the 2020 AHSAA Cross Country season last week with a strong 16:45.63 finish to take the individual boys’ title in the Class 5A-7A field of 102 runners at the Wildcat Twilight Invitational at Wildcat Trail in Anniston.

His time beat runner-up Peyton Baileyof Fairview by 1:24.21.  His fast start earned the Panthers runner the AHSAA Cross Country Spotlight for the first week of competition this season.

Southside-Gadsden won the boys’ team title in the 5K race with 65 points. Calera was second with 74, followed by Oxford (76) and Lincoln (91). Junior Luke Holcombewas seventh and sophomore Jackson Griggsfinished eighth to lead Southside.

This week, the cross country season gets much busier with at least eight cross country meets are set for August 27, 28 and 29. The meets include: (Aug. 27)the Bobcat Invitational at Opp; and Smiths Station Panther Stages; (Aug. 28) NOALA Twilight Classic at Cullman; (Aug. 29)the Admiral’s Twilight Invite at Daphne; Scottsboro’s Black and Gold Classic; the Briar Patch Run (St. Clair County Invitational at Odenville; Brooks High School Invitational at Florence; and Faith Academy “Banana” Relays at Mobile.

Other top performances from the Wildcat Twilight Invitational and other cross country meets published by Alabama Runners website last week include:

BOYS’ PERFORMANCES
JAKE MOORE, WHITE PLAINS: 
Clocked 17:40.54 to nip Wyatt Knight of Ashville in the 1A-4A race at the Wildcat Twilight Invitational to host Wildcats win their own invitational meet. White Plains totaled 47 points, runner-up Ashville had 61 and Pleasant Valley was third with 65. The field totaled 98 runners.
BRADY BARTON, HELENA: The Huskies’ senior runner turned in the fastest time of the week winning the CTC Dual/Tri/Quad meet at Tuscaloosa’s Munny Sokol Park with a 16:08.81 time. Steele Joiner, a junior at Lawrence County, was second with a 16:54.39 time in the 5K race that had 26 runners competing. Helena won the boys’ team title with 31 points and American Christian was second with 33.

GIRLS’ PERFORMANCES
TAYLOR WILLIAMS, LAWRENCE COUNTY:  
The sophomore nipped American Christian freshman Karis Kelley by three seconds to win the CTC Dual/Tri/Quad Meet at Munny Sokol Park in Tuscaloosa on August 20. Lawrence County won the team competition with 24 points, and American Christian finished second with 33. Williams clocked 19:36.96, and Kelley crossed at 19:39.94. Seventh grader Katie Mae Coan finished third for the winning Red Devils with a time of 19:58.84. The race included 19 runners overall.
KATIE GILES, GLENCOE: 
The sophomore won the girls’ Class 1A-4A race at the Wildcat Twilight Invitational with a sprint to the finish – clocking 21:19.98 to edge runner-up Trinity Roberts of Pleasant Valley by less than a second. Roberts crossed the finish line with a 22:19.39 time. The field had 87 runners. Pleasant Valley won the team title with 37 points. Ashville finished second with 64, White Plains was third with 66 and Glencoe was fourth with 96.
ABBY LITTLE, PELL CITY: The Panthers junior topped the field of 64 runners competing in the 5A-7A division of the Wildcat Twilight Invitational with a winning time of 21:41.24.   Southside-Gadsden junior Camryn Davis was second clocking 22:08.87. Pell City, which had eighth grader Reagan Edwards and junior Abie Jenkins cross in fourth and fifth place, respectively, won the team title with 32 points. Southside was second with 34 Alexandria finished third with 65. Freshman Caroline Pinson closed out the scoring for Pell City finishing 10th.

Photo: Pell City junior Jack Lowe wins 5A/7A race at Wildcat Twilight Invitational (Courtesy of EA Sports Today)