BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
SMITHS STATION — Two standout local cross country runners won the girls and boys races at the J.D. Evilsizer Panther Invitational in Smiths Station on Sept. 26.
Lee-Scott Academy’s Olivia Kahn won the girls race with a time of 19:32.28, and Smiths Station High School’s Chris Drury won the boys race with a time of 17:15.82.
In the girls race, Smiths Station’s Morgan Parks placed second with a time of 20:02.89, and Dothan High School’s June Haynie came in third with a time of 20:44.83.
Earlier in the morning in the boys race, Dothan High School’s Mario Roca came up just short in second after turning in a 17:16.76, and Smiths Station’s Connor Bunce was third with a time of 17:34.88.
While the boys race featured an exciting finish between Drury and Roca, who finished less than a second behind Drury, the girls race was anticlimactic due to Kahn’s dominance.
Kahn, who won the 2024 Class 3A individual state championship as a freshman, finished nearly 30 seconds before the next closest runner.
With the state meet now just over a month away, Kahn said she expected the performance would help propel her forward through the rest of the season until then.
“I was feeling good. It’s a little bit of a longer course, well I think it felt a little bit longer, and it was a little bit difficult, but it still felt good to finish it strong,” Kahn said. “I’m looking forward to [the state meet]. I know there’s going to be some good competition that can push me all the way through the race, so I think this is a good confidence boost to help me know I can keep up with people who will push me. I’ll try my best to win or do as good as I can there.”
For Drury, the race provided the opportunity for him to set a benchmark and downplayed the competition after several other schools pulled out of the event at the last second.
“I think I did okay. It wasn’t the greatest competition I went against, but it was pretty good. I feel pretty good about it,” Drury said. “I’ll use this as a way to know how I should go out and not start too fast or too slow, and just get a feel for how to maintain [pace] and how to move forward after this.”
Overall, it was a banner day for Smiths Station’s varsity girls and boys teams at the namesake tournament.
The Panthers had four runners finish in the top five in the boys race as Greyson Britton and Kallen Bell joined Drury and Bunce with fourth- and fifth-place finishes, respectively.
The Lady Panthers placed two in the top five as well, with Olivia Ortiz finishing fifth alongside Parks.
Glenwood School’s Abigail Truitt came in fourth in the girls race for the Lady Gators as well.
The event is named for former Smiths Station cross country and track and field coach J.D. Evilsizer, who coached at the school for 17 years. His teams won 11 state championships, and he produced numerous individual state champions, including six national All-America runners.
Evilsizer was also a standout runner himself, winning the first Gulf South Conference cross country title in 1971 at Livingston University, now known as the University of West Alabama, before lettering at Auburn University.
