The Huntsville Track Club’s 2007 outstanding Male Cross Country Runner Award

The 2007 HTC Outstanding Male High School Cross Country runner is Keith Buell, a sophomore at Randolph High School in Huntsville. He earned this honor by being the top HTC member to finish in the Metro Cross Country Meet at the Running Park in Huntsville in October, 2007.

Keith was born at Fort Sill, Oklahoma where his family was stationed when both his dad and mother served in the Army. The family first moved to Huntsville in 1997, left for a tour in Washington, D.C. in 2000 and returned after his father, David, retired in 2002 and his mother, Grace, retired in 2003.

That (2003) was also the year that Keith began running at Randolph as a 6th grader student. The following year he began to compete for Randolph and has continued each year with steady improvement.

“He is a real work horse,” his high school coach, James Terwilliger, said. “Keith does everything I ask him to do. He is a pleasure to coach.

“At the state meet we had a plan and he executed it perfectly.”

In the Alabama High School Cross Country Championships in Moulton on November 10, Keith won the 3A-4A 5K race in 16:49 to finish an outstanding season. In the race he beat two runners from Rogers High School, one for the first time all season, as he lead his team to their third straight state title.

This race was the culmination of a season that began with the Randolph Cross Country Camp during the summer and a win at the Running of the Bulls 5K on the Hampton Cove Greenway in late August.

During the season Keith also won his division race at the Auburn Invitational and the 3A-4A Sectional race that qualified his team for the State Meet. At the Scottsboro Invitational Keith ran a personal seasonal best of 16:37 for 5K.

Last winter, as a freshman at Randolph, Keith was the State Champion in the Mile and the 2-mile indoor races in the 1A-4A division.

Keith joined the Huntsville Track Club this year.

Keith’s favorite subject in school is history and he hopes to run in college.

“I know that’s a few years away, but I would like to run in college,” Keith said. “I don’t have any college in mind right now. I would just be glad to run somewhere.”

Keith becomes only the third sophomore runner to win this HTC award. The others were Mark Fisher of Catholic High last year and Cameron Brown of Grissom in 1992. Now Keith could become the first male runner to win this award three times.

Please welcome our 2007 Outstanding Male Cross Country Runner, Mr. Keith Buell.