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BACK TO BACK: Four Yellow Jackets finish in top six, Oxford's boys take county title

thomas ashworth, the anniston star, ala.
·3 min read

Oct. 19—MCCLELLAN — Four weeks ago, Oxford's Issac Williams had to turn to physical therapy after a bad bout of tendinitis in his knees.

On Thursday morning and in his second cross country race back, he finished atop Calhoun County and was seconds shy of breaking his personal record with a finish of 17 minutes, 4.98 seconds.

"Coming back from injury and starting off with this is a good feeling," Williams said. "I'm proud of our team."

Led by Williams' first-place finish, Oxford's boys team dominated the Calhoun County cross country meet Thursday with four Yellow Jackets finishing in the top six and putting up 37 points more than second-place White Plains.

"I feel pretty good," Oxford coach Landon Delozier siad. "There was definitely a point in time where I was pretty worried about our positioning because we had kind of set ourselves up not great. But by a mile and a half, I knew the guys were going to execute the way they were supposed to."

Along with Williams' strong finish, Case Payne finished in second for the Yellow Jackets in 17:11:40. Oxford's Matt Tippets finished in fourth and Phil Copeland finished in sixth.

"Our top three did where they needed to do," Williams said. "I was pulling our two guy through with us and unfortunately I had to leave him at the end, but that's part of it. I'm just glad we got to get some numbers in that top five."

With this being Williams' second race back after injury, Delozier said he was happy with his finish, especially after taking time off to rest and physical therapy.

"'I'm super proud that he's able to come out from basically having two weeks, not completely off, but not running for two weeks, and put that down," Delozier said. "He's only like four seconds, six seconds off his PR. We'll take that for sure."

Second-place White Plains was led by Christian Sotelo, who finished fifth with a time of 17:43.03. Jaiden Garcia finished 10th for the Wildcats and Riley Hunter placed 13th.

"I'm so, so proud of the boys and their effort and for how far that they've come this season," White Plains coach Chase Cotton said. "They've all worked so hard just because they knew that they had to. With several of our top runners being out, the whole month of September I just challenged like, 'Hey, it's got to be y'all guys. Y'all have got to step up,' and they have."

With Williams returning for Oxford and many others finding their stride, Delozier has plenty of confidence in his team after many carved out roles this season.

"Last year, we had a bunch of guys four through nine that were all fighting for that top five spot," Delozier said. "Now, we're reaping the benefits of having that last year, just that competition in those back spots trying to get in the top five."

Team rankings (points)

1., Oxford (28)

2., White Plains (65)

3., Pleasant Valley (97)

4., Alexandria (102)

5., Donoho (130)

6., Piedmont (166)

7., Jacksonville (206)

8., Ohatchee (229)

9., Saks (235)

10. Faith Christian (237)

Top 20 finishers

1., Issac Williams, Oxford

2., Case Payne, Oxford

3., Jayden Veazey, Pleasant Valley

4., Matt Tippets, Oxford

5., Christian Sotelo, White Plains

6., Phil Copeland, Oxford

7., Braxton Williams, Pleasant Valley

8., Caden Birchfield, Alexandria

9., Alexander Boling, Alexandria

10., Jaiden Garcia, White Plains

11., Cameron Rogers, Faith Christian

12., Hunter Hartwell, Donoho

13., Riley Hunter, White Plains

14., Riley Goodson, Donoho

15., Jack Houston, Oxford

16., Trveor Lentz, White Plains

17., James Blanchet, Oxford

18., Caiden Cardelli, Piedmont

19., Colin Thurman, Jacksonville

20., Jackson New, Alexandria

Sports Writer Thomas Ashworth: 256-236-1551. On Twitter: @ThomasAshworth0.