Charging ahead

Benji Knox and Marlee Mason made their marks at Hewitt-Trussville High School. Now, they’re doing the same at the next level. 

The 2016 Husky alums enjoyed breakout freshmen campaigns last year as members of the University of Alabama in Huntsville cross-country and track and field teams. Among many accomplishments, Knox and Mason both earned spots on the All-Gulf South Conference first team for cross-country. Mason, notably, won Freshman of the Year honors for her GSC performance. 

“I think it went as good as it ever could have,” Mason said of her freshman year. “I was pushing myself every day the hardest I could, so come race day, I was nervous, but I knew I was going to kill it.” 

With a year of experience under their belts, the Trussville runners are now looking to carry that mojo into their sophomore seasons. There are few reasons why they shouldn’t progress. 

Both have demonstrated continued improvement since their first practices at Hewitt-Trussville. 

David Dobbs remembers those days well. 

The 28th-year Husky cross-country and track and field coach guided Knox and Mason through their illustrious high school careers. At one time, neither athlete was as decorated as they are today. 

Dobbs recalls meeting Mason her freshman year, back when she did most of her running around a dirt diamond. The lifelong softball player was sent to Dobbs at the recommendation of the high school’s softball coach. 

“They were using me as baserunner, so I was like, ‘Well, if I’m just going to run, why not just join the running team?’” Mason said. “So I did.”

That logic led her to the Hewitt-Trussville track and field team, which she joined during the spring of her ninth-grade year, and to the school’s cross-country team the following fall. One of the first things Dobbs noticed about Mason was her competitive nature. He said she possessed a “whip-your-butt” type of attitude that revealed itself most prominently in races. 

“It’s this idea that if you beat me, you know you’ve raced somebody,” Dobbs said of Mason’s approach. 

It carried her toward the top.

 Mason finished 15th at the Class 7A state cross-country meet her senior year. The top 15 finishers were named All-State. 

Dobbs said he knew she had the potential to unleash such a performance, just like he knew she had the potential to achieve what she did as a UAH freshman. Mason lowered her 5K personal best by more than 30 seconds, to 18:40, and finished on the podium at the GSC outdoor track and field championships. She ran 11:53 to place third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, an event she picked up in the spring. 

“I wasn’t expecting the things that were happening to me,” Mason said. “I was just trusting my coach’s training and trusting that he knew my potential, even if I couldn’t see it.”

UAH head cross-country and track and field coach David Cain double-dipped on Trussville talent two Novembers ago, when Mason and Knox signed letters of intent during a ceremony at the high school. 

And that was before Knox, then a senior, flashed his true potential. During his final spring of high school, he notched a pair of 7A state-meet records in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs, winning individual championships in each. Knox ran 4:17 in the 1,600 and 9:17 in the 3,200. 

“Toward the end of track season in high school, I remember my coach telling me the training was all preparing me to peak at the right time,” Knox said. 

Dobbs first saw glimpses of Knox’s natural ability when he showed up to cross-country practice as a freshman. With long legs and unwavering desire, he grew into Dobbs’ ideal athlete.

“He’s going to do everything you, as a coach, tell him to do,” Dobbs said. 

Knox’s times began to drop his junior year as he took hold of racing strategy, placing fifth in the 3,200 meters at the state outdoor track and field meet. Seconds haven’t stopped shedding off his times since. 

Knox, who left Hewitt-Trussville a three-time state champion, ran 25:14 for the 8K cross-country distance as a UAH freshman. That mark is untouchable for many first-year college distance runners. At the GSC’s spring outdoor track and field championships, he finished runner-up in the 1,500 meters to help lead his team to the conference title. 

“I’ve never been a part of something like that,” Knox said. “We all put it together, and we all played our part.”

Dobbs thinks Knox can shatter both school and conference records during his UAH career, and he said he feels equally optimistic about Mason’s outlook. The two will aim to sustain their athletic success as they prepare for the future. 

Both are working toward degrees in engineering, a pursuit that requires the same tenacity they employ on the race course.

 Their drive, first cultivated at Hewitt-Trussville, endures. 

“They were a joy to coach,” Dobbs said.