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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

HOOVER – Chelsea runners Miles Brush and Cady McPhail did it once again at the 2020 Spain Park Last Chance Meet at Veteran’s Park on Friday, Oct. 23.

Coming off a race in which Brush won and McPhail finished second, the two were able to pick up wins against a difficult field. Brush did so in the boys race thanks to a time of 16:27.86, while McPhail did so in the girls race behind a time of 19:43.98.

It marked the second win in a row for Brush, who won the James Clemens Last Chance Meet the week before, while he has now finished seventh or better in every race this season against state championship contenders.

For McPhail, the win was her second in three races, sandwiched around a second-place finish at the James Clemens meet a week ago. The two adjusted to the course, and despite Brush running his slowest race of the season and McPhail running her second slowest time of the season, they were able to set the pace for the field with their wins.

Thanks to their finishes, the boys and girls both finished third at the meet.

In the boys race, however, Spain Park ended up finishing one spot ahead of the Hornets in second thanks to five runners finishing inside the top 20 and six in the top 30.

Sophomore Keith Warner continued an impressive season for the Jags with a finish of sixth, while Kenneth Bishop finished eighth. Warner finished the race in a time of 17:10.71, while Bishop was three seconds behind.

Garrett Bishop, Jackson Cooper and Webb Harper added top 20 finishes for the Jags. Bishop finished 16th with a time of 17:56.79, while Cooper and Harper finished 19th and 20th, respectively. Cooper crossed the finish line with a time of 18:05.56, while Harper finished with a time of 18:09.60.

J.T. Brownlee then became the final Spain Park runner to finished in the top 30 by claiming 29th behind a time of 19:01.83.

Mario Levins (34th), Cage Kizzire (35th), Zane McPeters (39th) and Lucas Harvey (41st) had strong races as well.

Chelsea’s boys closed out their impressive race with three more in the top 30, led by Thomas Ludwig’s finish of 17th. Ludwig ran the race in 17:58.59.

Behind him, Andrew Fielding and Tucker Brown finished 25th and 30th, respectively. Fielding finished with a time of 18:38.41, while Brown was just behind thanks to a time of 19:02.05.

Elijah Williams, Luke Price, Zay Brush, Camden Thomas and Alex Davis all finished in the top 50 for the Hornets to complete in impressive performance.

Pelham also had a few runners compete with Ian Howell, TJ Gennari and Shaun O’Neil finishing 64th, 66th and 67th, respectively. Howell finished with a time of 20:40.71, while Gennari and O’Neil were right alongside with times of 20:48.24 and 20:50.24, respectively.

The Shelby County Wildcats had four runners compete in the event with Gabriel Aria finishing 107th, River Horton finishing 113th, Samuel Tallie finishing 117th and Elijah Dykes finishing 129th.

Montevallo’s Dante Jaureze finished 86th in the race for the Bulldogs thanks to a time of 22:22.23, while Indian Springs had several runners compete as well.

Springs was led by Mark Underwood in 81st with a time of 21:42.39.

In the girls race, Chelsea was the highlight as three other runners behind McPhail inside the top 30.

The highest of those finishers was Avery Thompson, who claimed 18th behind a time of 22:41.92. Behind that, Clair Neuberger and June Price finished 26th and 29th, respectively, with times of 23:26.99 and 23:35.72.

Joss O’Kelley, Anna Nettuno and Isabelle Seymour finished 35th-36th, respectively, all finishing with times between 24:27.98 and 24:49.34.

Caroline Moore added a final top-50 finisher by taking home 46th with a time of 25:36.54.

Spain Park didn’t have all of its runners compete in the event, but the Jags had high finishes from the ones who did. Peyton LeCroy led the way by finishing 10th thanks to a time of 22:03.51. It marked LeCroy’s second top-10 finish of the year.

Behind her, sophomore Madison Harvey ran a strong race in just her second event, finishing 24th with a time of 23:02.65.

Anna Hoffman and Gianna Thornton closed out Spain Park’s performance with finishes of 40th and 42nd, respectively. Hoffman finished with a time of 24:59, while Thornton finished with a time of 25:12.67.

In the team standings, Pelham was just behind Chelsea, finishing fifth thanks to two runners finishing inside the top 50.

Zitaly Pacheco and Brooke Monti continued impressive seasons with Pacheco finishing 32nd and Monti finishing 38th. Pacheco finished with a time of 24:05.83, while Monti was just behind her teammate with a time of 24:54.90.

Gabrielle Bass and Emma Radford also weren’t too far behind with Bass finishing 52nd and Radford finishing 58th.

Indian Springs added two finishers in the top 50 with Elise Picard finishing 23rd thanks to a time of 22:58.63 and Caroline Beisher finishing 47th with a time of 25:38.73.

Shelby County also had one finisher in the top 50 with Mary Moore finishing 45th behind a time of 25:33.36.