James Clemens’ Drew Bell Earns Coaching Award As 2018 Cross Country Season Gets Underway
MADISON- The season for cross country in high schools officially begins Aug. 23 with the opening of the 2018 competition. For the James Clemens cross country team the regular season schedule could be just an anti-climactic end to a superb summer of success.
The Jets won both girls and boys divisions of the Woodstock 5K held in Anniston. The fastest Female Team included Sydney Freeman (23 minutes, 39 seconds), Sarah Shirley (23:56), Kaija Sorenson (25:03), Nikki Lipski (25:16) and Hannah Einhorn (26:19). The Fastest Male Team featured Matthew Hill (17:10), Patrick Neely (19:04), Elliott Kliesner (19:13) A.J. Sheldrick (19:32) and Laith Qushair (19:47).
Five Jets took individual medal wins. A third place award was given to Christopher Robinson in the Male Age 11-13 division with a time of 22:12. Sydney Freeman (23:39) and Sarah Shirley (23:56) finished 1-2 in the Female Age 14-16 division and Matthew Hill (17:10) and Patrick Neely (19:04) did the same in boys action.
James Clemens also attended the annual trek to the Brevard Camp on the trails through the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Carolinas. The week-long excursion is hosted by Brevard College and featured clinics, yoga, Pilates, dances and a thrilling social life for those who attended.
James Clemens head coach Drew Bell received the prestigious 25-Year Award for bringing high school distance runners to the camp for a quarter of a century. Besides his seventh season at James Clemens, Bell has taken student-athletes from eight other schools in his 30-year career to the beautiful hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Bell received gifts for his award.
“It was a great honor to receive the award, but just making sure all of my student-athletes have a chance to experience such an elite event at Brevard is worth all of my years of doing so,” said Bell, who has coached 11 state championship teams, 17 state runner-up teams and 50-plus All-American athletes. “It’s a week stay that all of my athletes have and will remembered.”
James Clemens also took part in the Friday Night Lights event at Scottsboro High as a pre-season run. The event is usually a good barometer of where each athlete stands as they head into the regular season.
The season opener for the Jets is Aug. 24 at the University of Montevallo. The season schedule also includes trips to Cartersville, Ga. and both Oakville and Bremen, Ala. The 2018 season ends Nov. 10 with the AHSAA State Meet at the Oakville Indian Mounds Park in Oakville, Ala.
