Varsity Boys Gold Race - 2021 Watson
Sam Arnold of Brookhaven leading the charge at the 1 mile mark
As I stated on the previous page, the Varsity Boys Gold Race was officially the deepest race in Mississippi history, as 41 total athletes broke the 17 minute 5k barrier on a cool Saturday morning, along with another 5 breaking 16. My prediction in my pre-race podcast was 25 total, and I thought even that may have been a bold call. The amount of PR's and 'cinderella stories' on in this race was downright awesome. The competition was deep, the atmosphere was spectacular, and the weather and course conditions were near-perfect. To summarize, the gold race was one of those races that made me very glad that I have this job - It was seriously that much fun to watch.
To no one's surprise, Sam Arnold took on the early leading duties and made it an honest race - That's just what this guy does. He made it a gutsy race and strung it out early, and put pressure on the rest of the pre-race favorites. However, soon after the 2k mark, the Oxford duo of Luke Johnson and Ethan Knight responded and took the lead, showing great camaraderie in working together - That one simple move may have been what gotten them to their massive PR's.
Then, right before the 3k mark, something happened that even I could have never guessed.
Luke Johnson of Oxford basically owns the second half surge. It is his signature move - it's how he broke the field minus the Brookhaven boys at Saltillo, and it's how he won Tupelo and Jesse Owens.
With that being said, I knew that it was going to be an Oxford jersey that broke the race apart in the second half. However, the Oxford runner that actually did it completely shocked me.
After the big hill on the second half, Ethan Knight absolutely sent it and created a 10 meter gap on one of the best chase packs Mississippi has ever seen. Knight had a gap on runners such as All-State #1 Grayson Childress, Johnson, Arnold, Jaheim Bridges, and one of Louisiana's best in Caleb Babineaux. I have to say, it was really weird to see runners of that caliber get pressured by Ethan Knight. Not that Knight is a slouch - he has gone 16:18 in the 5k at that point. But he was literally having the race of his life, going in way over his head and you would have thought he was the pre-race favorite. For crying out loud, the dude literally PR'd in his 2 mile en route to 5k!! But Knight went for it and made the race what it was, and I commemorate him for doing so.
With 1 mile to go, there was one runner lurking in the chase pack's shadow waiting on the right moment to pounce on his competition. He was a guy that I had mentioned numerous times all year, continually stating that he was underrated. With 1 mile to go, he decided that he was tired of being overlooked, and it was time to wake the state up of Mississippi up and show what he is made of, and that was none other than Keegan Leverett.
For about half a mile, Knight had a sizable gap on the field. However, with 1 mile to go, Leverett finally woke up and noticed no one was going to bridge the gap back to Knight - so he decided to do it himself. And in seemingly no time at all, Leverett was on Knight's shoulder, and then sprung to the lead.
Leverett simply could not have timed his move any better with the way the race played out. Hanging back and keeping a low profile, and then making a move at the perfect spot on the course to do so - the 400 meter climb to the '1k to go' mark. It was there that Leverett won the race, almost identically copying Christian Balcer's tactics from last year.
Leverett took the lead and never looked back, permanently making his mark with about 600 meters to and unleashed a vicious kick to seal his spot at the throne. Leverett finished in an eventual 15:37, marking him at #8 All-time in Mississippi High School Cross Country history. Behind him...
Ruston's Caleb Babineaux finished 2nd in 15:46, a huge run for the Louisiana senior.
Brookhaven's Sam Arnold hung in tough like always and finished 3rd in 15:50, less than 0.1 seconds off of his PR.
Luke Johnson finally got what he was chasing for all year - the sub-16 5k barrier. He finished in 4th in 15:53.
And rounding out the top 5... Out of seemingly nowhere, Ethan Knight had the race of his life, breaking 16 with a 21 second PR, running 15:57. What a day for Mississippi running.
The team race was just as exciting as the individual race.
Before the race, we knew it was going to come down to last year's Top 2, Brookhaven High School and Ruston High School from Louisiana. On paper, the favorites were Brookhaven, the top team in the state. However, Ruston was not to be overlooked as they were last year's team champions and know how to run well on this course.
Brookhaven was also vying to do something *to my knowledge* no other team has ever done before, and that was to put all of their scoring 5 under 17 minutes. They put 4 under 17 at Jesse Owens with their #5 Collin Kellum running 17:13 and seemingly getting better each race. And as I stated previously, basically everyone broke 17 on Saturday, and Kellum decided that he would join them, running 16:50 for a 23 second PR, securing the mark of the 2021 Brookhaven squad truly being one of the best teams in Mississippi history.
However, it was Ruston that prevailed over Brookhaven on that day, as they won almost every 1-on-1 battle and beat them by a mere 3 points.
I will have to say, Brookhaven's usual number 1 and All-State #1 Grayson Childress simply had an off day. If Childress would have been where he was projected, Brookhaven probably would have gotten the team title. After the 2 mile mark, Childress eventually faded to 21st, and finished #4 on Brookhaven's squad.
I'm not really going to look into it all that much. Runners are allowed to have off days, and performing as good as Childress has all season can be mentally exhausting sometimes. However, he's still one of the best runners in the state, and I'm almost 100% positive that he's going to wake up any doubters at the All-State Meet next go around.
Finally, I don't know how they do it, but Pearl High School always finds a way to come through every year with the squad that they have. Even without their usual #1 Tanner Moore, Pearl's scoring 5 decided Brookhaven wasn't going to get all the spotlight on Saturday. In a phenomenal 11 second 1-5 spread lead by Farren Oberto, Pearl's scoring 5 all broke 17 minutes showing outstanding pack running tactics, and most of their runners scoring huge PR's. If they would have had Moore, they could have potentially put 6 under 17. This feat was also done with a very young team, and could potentially go after Brookhaven's numbers in a couple of years.
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