Photo by Sam Chandler.
The Hewitt-Trussville High School boys cross-country team placed seventh at last fall’s Class 7A state meet. The Huskies are aiming to requalify in 2017.
In his 40 years coaching cross-country, David Dobbs has come to expect the unexpected.
There have been seasons in which his teams have surpassed his expectations, and others in which they haven’t lived up to their potential.
Decades of this experiential learning have left Dobbs closely acquainted with the sport’s unpredictable nature. He now pauses before predicting the future. But on an overcast August morning after his teams’ annual time trial, the 28-year head coach at Hewitt-Trussville High School voiced a broad, optimistic forecast for the upcoming fall cross-country season.
“I feel good about this year,” he said.
And he should.
His Husky boys are coming off a 2016 campaign in which they claimed a seventh-place finish at the Class 7A state meet, despite failing to qualify the year prior. His Husky girls, who fell just short of making it to state, now return the bulk of their varsity roster.
Positive energy is brewing.
Its source, at least for the boys team, is Josh Jenkins. The fleet-footed senior ran a 5K personal-best 16 minutes, 41 seconds as Hewitt-Trussville’s No. 3 runner last fall. He’ll now be expected to transition into the front-running role due to the graduations of former teammates John Ngaruiya, the 2016 state runner-up, and Austin Atkinson.
Both are now running at the junior college level.
“He’s just put the time in. He’s put the grind in,” Dobbs said of Jenkins. “He’s learned to race fast.”
Jenkins performed well during the 2017 indoor and outdoor track seasons. In the spring, he broke 2 minutes for 800 meters and ran close to 4:30 in the 1,600 meters.
Fellow seniors Carson Spruiell and Thomas Wolfe shouldn’t trail too far behind Jenkins on the cross-country course. The pair contributed to Hewitt-Trussville's top five last season and hold competitive 5K PRs. Spruiell has run 16:53 and Wolfe 17:17.
Together, Dobbs said that Jenkins, Spruiell and Wolfe compose the hungry, humble core of his current squad.
“The three of them are sort of a collective mind,” Dobbs said. “They don’t have a lot of ego.”
The Husky boys should also receive a boost from its sizeable freshman class. Nathan Knox, a younger brother of former Hewitt-Trussville distance standout Benjamin Knox, headlines a group of more than 20 ninth-graders who join the team’s ranks. Last year, they won the Metro South championship at the middle school level.
“They’re very self-assured,” Dobbs said.
Another freshman, Amelia Brady, is likely to make a significant impact for the girls team. She dominated against middle school competition and was pulled up to run for the high school each of the past two seasons.
Brady finished 11th at last year’s state meet in 18:53. This fall, her coach said she has the potential to emerge as one of Alabama’s top freshman.
“When she’s on, it’s scary what her potential is,” Dobbs said.
Sydney Hall, a junior, and Helena Steen, a senior, are also expected to play key roles for the Husky girls. They’ll aim to advance to the state meet for the first time since 2013.
“It’s not a weak section up there at all,” Dobbs said of the 7A, Section 4 qualifier in Huntsville. “We’re going to have to go to work.”
Both teams will clock in on Sept. 2 when they open their 2017 campaigns at the Brooks Twilight Classic in Memphis.
