Huskies send coaches out on high note

It was the perfect way to go out.

The Hewitt-Trussville High School cross-country teams sent the coaching tandem of David and Anita Dobbs out in style, finishing in a big way at the Class 7A state meet at Oakville Indian Mounds Park near Moulton on Nov. 14.

The girls team finished third overall, the best girls cross-country finish at state in program history, while the boys ran well above their projections to finish fourth.

“You can’t ask for anything better than that,” said Anita Dobbs, who coaches the girls team.

The Hewitt girls totaled 128 points, 10 points behind second-place Hoover. Auburn won the girls title with a score of 62.

Maci Mills led the Lady Huskies with a 13th-place finish in 19 minutes, 57 seconds, earning All-State honors due to her top-15 placement. Kylee Sisk (18th, 20:22), Amelia Brady (23rd, 20:40), Kinley Harris (31st, 20:55) and Avery Cahoon (44th, 21:13) finished in scoring positions for the team. 

Sophia Knox (83rd, 22:05), Natalie Wiram (84th, 22:06), Olivia Browning (103rd, 22:37), Sophie Bryant (128th, 23:33) and Addy Alexander (132nd, 23:39) also ran for the girls.

Brady was the lone senior that ran at state, and Mills was the team’s only junior as well. 

“I was really proud of them for what they’ve done all season,” Anita Dobbs said. “They had a good leader in Amelia Brady. It’s going to go well for next year and the next group because we were so young.”

Online projections had the Hewitt boys finishing in the range of ninth place, so the Huskies shattered expectations with the fourth-place run. Huntsville won the competition with 36 points, followed by Auburn and St. Paul’s. Hewitt-Trussville scored 143 points, four ahead of fifth-place Hoover. The Huskies were the top Birmingham-area team, edging the Bucs, Oak Mountain, Vestavia Hills and Spain Park. 

Hewitt-Trussville narrowly made it to state as a team, thanks to a tiebreaker at the section meet the week prior. 

“We came in with the attitude that nobody expected anything from us and nobody knows we’re here,” David Dobbs said. “We ran together and pulled it off.”

It was the best finish for the boys team since the Huskies finished as the 6A runners-up in 2010 and 2011.

“It was a phenomenal day,” David Dobbs said.

Nathan Knox led the boys team with an 18th-place finish, running the 5K in 16:24. Mitchell Phillips (19th, 16:25), Aaron Himes (24th, 16:36), Tristan Teer (30th, 16:41) and Blake Bailey (60th, 17:24) scored for the Huskies.

Rush Lachina (75th, 17:38), Sam Lovin (82nd, 17:42), Wil Edwards (88th, 17:53), William Gallant (91st, 17:56) and Thomas Himes (96th, 18:00) also ran.

The girls team was strong all year, winning a race in Oxford to begin the season and keeping that momentum throughout. The boys team had more ups and downs but performed when it mattered. 

One of the keys to the state performance was the Huskies’ performance on the same course in a small meet Oct. 27, which both Hewitt teams swept.

“We came out of that going into section with a great attitude and confidence boost,” David Dobbs said.

David Dobbs will stick around to coach the distance runners for the Huskies’ outdoor track and field season, but that program is now in the hands of Tom Esslinger. As for who will be coaching the cross-country teams next fall, that is still to be decided. 

Anita Dobbs called it a “great way to end our careers.”

“It has been a glorious run,” David Dobbs said. “We couldn’t have picked a better place to be.”