LOXLEY, Ala. — The 2013 Baldwin County cross-country championship is set for Saturday morning at Loxley Municipal Park.

The meet will be hosted by Spanish Fort High which will be looking to claim the girls team crown for the seventh consecutive year.

“Continuing our streak of County Championships is very important for our girls,” Toro  coach Mike Rauch said. “They have been working hard together since June. The cool thing about county, is that it is going to be the first race where we have had the chance to run a complete team (this season). We have had numerous out of town weddings, soccer games and other issues that have prevented us from running our best girls together.

“We definitely hope to come out and run strong and try to keep the streak alive.”

In the boys division, Fairhope has a three-year title streak going since wrestling the county crown from Spanish Fort in 2010. But the Pirates lost four senior runners last year including 2012 boys county champion Thomas Grace. And although the Toros are very young, Rauch feels their experience together can be a key asset in their favor.

“(Spanish Fort) hasn’t won a boys county title since 2009, so these boys are definitely hungry for it. We are still a very young team, but these boys have been together for three years. Our top eight is comprised of six freshman and two sophomores. We had a mid-year slump due to a couple injuries, but the past two weeks they have really come together and shown in workouts that they are back on track.”

Individually, defending Baldwin County girls champion Hannah Evans of Fairhope will seek to repeat and earn the individual title again. Her closest rival, Daphne junior Kaleigh Akers, is mending a stress fracture and is hoping to be back to competitive strength in time for the 6A section meet said Daphne coach Joe Hutchins.

Fairhope coach Tim Yahr said Evans has prepared well and should be ready to push herself to a fast finish.

“Hannah has not lost to any Baldwin County or Mobile County girls this season (and) is also running well under pressure.  She has worked very hard and is preparing well for Saturday's race. The team competition is always what interests me the most. Our girls are making progress; especially the three ladies in our top five who are competing in their first year of cross country.” 

In the boys race Daphne’s John Alan Walker is a strong contender this year as well as Fairhope’s Caleb Casolaro who could make it a close and exciting race.

“On the boys side we only have two returning varsity runners,” Yahr said. “Senior Josh Doege and junior Caleb Casolaro. Last year most of our guys were watching others on the team lead us or they were running middle school races. I am impressed with how they are owning that responsibility now that the pressure is on them. 

“Caleb and John Alan Walker will be the favorites with John Alan winning the battle at Challenge and Caleb taking the lead at Azalea. But that was over a month ago so there is no telling what will happen in Saturday's races — and that is what makes them so exciting.”

Rauch said times could be very fast, especially if the weather is clear, cool and dry as forecasted.

“As long as we don't get any rain the course should be fantastic Saturday morning. We are going to (mow) the course as short as we can Thursday evening, so if it is dry, it should be fast. We hope to put on a great meet.”

There are 171 athletes registered for the meet from all seven public schools in the county.  The girls race starts at 8:30 a.m. Boys start at 9:15 a.m. Awards for the winning teams and the top 15 medalists in each division will start at 10 a.m.