Scottsboro edges rival Lawrence County to win first state title since 2019
Story and photos by Jason Bowen
Shortly after crossing the finish line in the Class 5A girls state meet 5K race, Scottsboro seniors Cambree Bradford and Mabry Bonsall got mixed signals about their team’s state-title fate.
“I crossed the finish line and didn’t know if we’d won,” Bradford said. “Then all the Scottsboro people were cheering and came running over to us, and I was just really excited.”
Scottsboro edged two-time defending state champion Lawrence County by two points to win its first state championship since the 2019 season during Saturday’s AHSAA Cross Country Championships at Oakville Indian Mounds Park near Moulton. The Wildcats posted a winning low team score of 42 points to Lawrence County’s 44.
It’s Scottsboro’s 24th all-time state championship, second most in AHSAA Girls Cross Country history behind Mountain Brooks’ 26.
Scottsboro had four all-state runners (Top-15 finishers) while six of its runners placed in the Top-19.
“We knew if we had a good day, we could take it,” Bonsall said. “It’s been a long time coming. It’s been five years, — we finally did it again. I’m just really proud of all the girls. We all ran our perfect race.”
Nine days earlier, Scottsboro and Lawrence County finished tied for the Class 5A Section 4 title with 33 points, but Lawrence County took the top spot because its sixth runner finished ahead of Scottsboro’s sixth-finishing runner. At the state meet, all of Scottsboro’s top-six runners finished ahead of Lawrence County’s fifth runner.
“As a unit, I think this (state meet) was different than the last few years. I feel like they walked in with an expectation to win,” said Scottsboro head coach Luke Robinson, who has now coached the Wildcats to four Class 5A girls state championships since taking over the program in 2016. “You could tell throughout the race that everybody was in it, everybody was battling, everybody was going for it. We talked about the mindset that the girl in front of you, whoever she may run for, (passing her) could be the difference between in a blue map (state-championship trophy) and the red map (state runner-up trophy). And they all did. Proud of the way they responded last week.”
Added Bradford, “we didn’t have our best race at sectionals, so we came in to state chasing (Lawrence County). We were motivated by that.”
Sophomore Banks Bradford (19:19.21) finished fifth, Cambree Bradford sixth (19:22.36), Bonsall ninth (19.59.60) and freshman Reese Avenel 10th (20:05.51) to all turn in all-state finishes while sophomore Addison Joose (20:41.16) and junior Mia Martin (20:51.71) just missed all-state honors with 18th- and 19th-place finishes respectively. The Wildcats also got a 34th-place finish from seventh-grader Brylee Bradford (21:54.73), a 43rd-place finish from freshman Asdyn Gamble (22:12.63) and a 48th-place finish from seventh-grader Jillian Mayhan (22:25.92).
“The girls stepped up,” Robinson said. “We had a lot of PRs (personal records), a lot of best races ever. For that to happen at the state meet, that’s when you want it to happen. Kudos to them for making that happen.”
