Cross country has been a sport slowly growing in Mississippi with participation increasing at the high school level across the state.
Unlike track and field, cross country didn’t quite have the same popularity associated with it as it does in nearby states like Tennessee or Georgia, but a senior at Heritage Academy has done his part to bring some much-deserved publicity to it.
Sidney “Sid” Stegall, a member of the track and field and cross country teams for the Patriots, was nominated late last year for the Gatorade Mississippi Boys Cross Country Player of the Year award.
On Monday, thanks to his accomplishments in the sport and what he’s been able to do overall at Heritage, the Mississippi College commit won the honor for this year, catching everyone involved by surprise.
“I knew I was a finalist for the award, so I knew I had a good chance to win, but there was definitely some surprise and excitement upon hearing that I had officially won,” Stegall said.
His tenure in both cross country and track and field at Heritage Academy has been filled with individual MAIS titles: seven in all.
However, his father and longtime coach, Sidney Stegall Sr., didn’t necessarily want him to get involved with the same sport that has now become ingrained in the Stegall family.
“I kind of backed up into this, found a lot of success, and I ended up running at Georgia Tech,” Stegall Sr. said. “My brother ended up getting into cross country, and my entire family, we’ve all kind of done this. I didn’t really want him to run when he was younger. I tried to hold him out of it as long as I could because I didn’t want him to do it just because we did.
“Since he was in eighth grade, he’s been trying to get better and to be as good as he can.”
That resulted in a highly-successful high school career, despite some injuries Stegall incurred over time, including being hurt during the 2020 and 2021 cross country seasons.
Once track and field season came along, Stegall found himself able to compete at a high level, but the inconsistency of not being fully healthy made it difficult this season getting back into the swing of things.
“He’s got a great internal motor,” Stegall Sr. said. “He pushes himself, sometimes too hard. That’s one of the things I have to be careful of because he’ll do more than his body is capable of. That was probably the biggest obstacle.”
Obstacles were meant to be overcome, and Stegall overcame his. He was fully healthy this season for Heritage Academy, but he was the only cross-country runner at the school last year.
During his time with the Patriots, Stegall has been the lone cross-country runner for a full season multiple times with the program in flux. Regardless, he continued to make his presence known and pushed through with the coaching and motivation of his father behind him, to win the MAIS Class 5A individual championship in cross country in October with a time of 16:17.5.
“The season started somewhat rough, but things really started to click around October and November,” Stegall said. “It was just consistent work throughout June, July, and August that brought the success in October and November, and I’m happy that I had a coach who understands how to train athletes like me.”
After his state titles and the work that he’s put into the sport, something that’s led to him committing and signing to run at Mississippi College, Monday’s announcement was the figurative “cherry on top.”
There’s still much to be done when it comes to the track and field season upcoming for Stegall and Heritage Academy, but the honor was well deserved.
“It runs in the family, no pun intended,” Stegall said. “I’m grateful that I was blessed to have the same opportunity that my parents and other relatives had … It’s something I’ve worked toward my whole career, so I’m grateful that I was selected to win.”
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