November 7, 2021
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
White Plains girls give coach John Moore a second-place finish in his final meet before retirement; freshman Conn second, nipped at the wire
MOULTON — John Moore couldn’t have written a better ending, unless of course it came equipped with a state championship.
Moore, the White Plains coach and one of the county’s most influential figures in the sport, coached his final cross country meet before retiring at the end of the year and his girls team gave him a big sendoff.
The Lady Wildcats brought home a trophy from the State Cross Country Championships for the first time Saturday, scoring a second-place finish in the Class 4A race at the Oakville Indian Mounds Park course. And they had the state runner-up.
Anchored by the 2-4 finish of Maddyn Conn and season-long running mate Anna Strickland, the White Plains girls scored 85 points and finished behind only team champion Bayside Academy.
“I’m happy he can bring something home this last year,” Conn said.
Conn, who ran an 18:59.35, came close to giving her coach a state champion on the way out. She held the lead coming into the final sprint but with 300 meters to go Bayside’s Annie Midyett “just came out of nowhere” and nipped the White Plains freshman at the wire by 0.54 seconds. Strickland, meanwhile, broke 20 in the state meet for the first time (19:36.92).
Four of White Plains’ counters finished in the top 30. All five hit their goal in the race.
“I’m disappointed I didn’t get first, but I’m still happy with myself that I got second and did the best I could,” Conn said.
If Conn is discouraged about her finish, Moore said she shouldn’t be.
“I told her in the lobby this morning win or lose today you’re going to be a state champion for many years to come and if you don’t win it today you’ve got three more years,” he said.
It was a big finish for Moore. He’s retiring from White Plains this year and this was his last cross country meet as a high school coach. He hopes to move into collegiate coaching going forward.
The only emotion he wanted to project when it was over was pride for his runners knowing they gave everything they had to give the Wildcats the best possible outcome.
“If I get too sappy I’m going to cry and I don’t want you to see me crying out here,” Moore said, his words catching in his throat. “This is the way you go out, you go out bringing some hardware home. Of course, you want to be first, but you don’t want to go home with nothing to show for all these years of hard work.
“Some of these girls have been with me for six years. At the end of six years this is just the icing on top of the cake so that you’re going out on top.
“I told my wife this morning when I think about this team, I’ll start getting sad knowing I’m not going to be around this team anymore. The No. 1 thing I’m going to miss is this family right here. I told them on the line I love them all.”
Pleasant Valley coach Brad Hood said Moore’s influence will be missed. In his six years coaching the Wildcats, Moore not only developed runners that regularly contended for county, sectional and state titles, he designed several courses around the county and didn’t mind sharing his expertise with outside coaches and runners for the betterment of the sport.
“Nobody can replace what he does, the passion he has for it,” Hood said. “He’s probably the main reason it’s grown to what it is. The thing about John is he doesn’t just care about his program, he cares about all of them. He’s out here running around cheering for kids from all over the county.
“Nobody can replace John, his passion and his willingness to see the sport grow, not just for his own gain, but for everybody’s.”
WHAT COULD’VE BEEN: One of the quirks of the qualifying format, Ohatchee secured enough wild card slots from its section to field a team in the Class 3A race. The Lady Indians got five spots, but since they weren’t one of the four team qualifiers, they weren’t eligible for the team race.
That didn’t stop them from acting like a team. At one point in the race, the Lady Indians’ five runners had scored 469 points, which had them 17thin the standings and ahead of three teams that were in the team race. They wound up scoring 575 points.
“I’m taking it as 17th or whatever that was,” Ohatchee coach Casey Lipscomb said. “I’m sure they’ll kick it out from that since we weren’t technically a team. I’m going to think that’s where we would’ve been had we been injury free. I’m just glad they did well.”
Ashlie Easterwood was their fastest runner, placing 65th (22:57.26), and was one of two Ohatchee runners to PR (Anna Watwood, 26:01.18). Ella Whitehead, the team’s only senior, ran 28:12.14 with a hip fracture.
Here are the top results of teams in and around Calhoun County that competed in the State Cross Country Championship
GIRLS TEAM STANDINGS
CLASS 3A
6. Glencoe, 10. Pleasant Valley
CLASS 4A
2. White Plains, 8. Jacksonville
CLASS 5A
5. Alexandria, 10. Lincoln
CLASS 6A
14. Southside-Gadsden
GIRLS ALL-STATE (Top 15)
CLASS 3A
11. Katie Giles, Glencoe 20:32.26
CLASS 4A
2. Maddyn Conn, White Plains 18:59.89; 4. Anna Strickland, White Plains 19:36.92; 11. Sarah Sloughfy, Jacksonville 20:25.08; 13. Isabella Foshee, Munford 20:41.57
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