The Tuscaloosa News All-Area cross-country teams for 2023 are highlighted by American Christian Academy's Braden Ary and Karis Kelley as boys and girls runners of the year, respectively.

Ary helped lead ACA to a second-place finish in the Class 5A state championship meet with a third place individual finish. Kelley, who finished in seventh place at the state meet, helped the ACA girls reach a sixth place finish in Class 5A.

The Northridge and Northside boys also earned top-10 finishes in their respective classifications. Northridge finished as the No. 4 team in Class 6A for the highest finish in program history, while Northside finished as the No. 6 team in Class 4A.

Coach of the year

Jeff Sparks, Northridge

Reason chosen: Sparks led the Northridge boys' program to a fourth-place finish, its highest finish at a state meet in program history. He also led the girls to a successful season, coming in 18th overall at state. He also led both teams to a 6A-Sectional 3 sectional championship this season.

Boys All-Area first team

Runner of the year: Braden Ary, senior, American Christian Academy

Reason chosen: The Tuscaloosa News' boys runner of the year once again earns first team honors after finishing third at state with a time of 15:50:39. At sectionals on Nov. 2, Ary ran a personal best time of 15:12, the fifth-fastest time in the state.

Carson Renicks, senior, American Christian Academy

Reason chosen: Renicks came in seventh place at the Class 5A state meet with a time of 16:17.18.

Stephen Billman, senior, American Christian Academy

Reason chosen: Billman ran a time of 16:29.54 at the Class 5A state meet, finishing in 10th place.

Logan McPherson, senior, American Christian Academy

Reason chosen: McPherson came in 15th place at state with a time of 16:54.84.

Anglin Young, sophomore, Northridge

Reason chosen: Young led the Jaguars at the state meet with a time of 15:54.09 to finish in fifth place in Class 6A.

Shawn Stephenson, sophomore, Northridge

Reason chosen: Stephenson came in 17th place in the Class 6A state meet, running a time of 16:16.07.

Richard Lessman, senior, Demopolis

Reason chosen: Lessman finished in 13^th place in the Class 5A state meet with a time of 16:39.17.

Henry Livingston, junior, Northside

Reason chosen: Livingston came in 11th place in the Class 4A state meet with a time of 17:07.28.

Boys second team

Logan Rogers, junior, Northside

Elijah Benton, sophomore, Fayette County

Nigel Senkbeil, freshman, Holy Spirit

Lolo Coma, seventh grade, Holy Spirit

Justin Walker, sophomore, Sipsey Valley

William Peterson, junior, Central

Alexander Haefner, freshman, Tuscaloosa Academy

Dylan Jones, senior, American Christian Academy

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Girls All-Area first team

Runner of the year: Karis Kelley, senior, American Christian Academy

Reason chosen: The Tuscaloosa News' girls runner of the year finished in seventh place in the Class 5A state meet with a time of 19:21.25.

Anna Pezent, sophomore, University Charter School

Reason chosen: The sophomore came in 10th place in the Class 1A-2A state meet with a time of 21:01.20.

Lucy Guthrie, junior, American Christian Academy

Reason chosen: Guthrie finished in ninth place at the Class 5A state meet with a time of 19:29.09.

Bailey Unger, sophomore, Fayette County

Reason chosen: Unger finished second at sectionals with a time of 21:40. She finished in 54th place in the Class 3A state meet with a time of 22:19.54.

Lillie Gould, Sophomore, Northridge

Reason chosen: Gould came in 43rd place in the Class 6A state meet with a time of 20:46.69.

Linley Byars, senior, Northridge

Reason chosen: Byars came in 50th place at the Class 6A state meet with a time of 21:06.75.

Audrey Spillers, eighth grade, Winfield

Reason chosen: The eighth grader finished in 35th place in the Class 3A state meet with a time of 21:51.87.

Sarah Beth Smith, senior, Demopolis

Reason chosen: Smith ran a time of 22:13.24 and came in 58th place at the Class 5A state meet.

Girls second team

Hattie Hurst, senior, Demopolis

Katelyn Patton, freshman, Northside

Reagan Lightsey, eighth grade, American Christian Academy

Laurel Morse, senior, University Charter School

Abbie Downs, freshman, Bibb County

Savannah Gibson, sophomore, Bibb County

Ciel Coma, freshman, Holy Spirit

Chloe Moore, freshman, Holy Spirit

Anna Snyder covers high school sports and University of Alabama recruiting for The Tuscaloosa News. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com. Follow her on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @annaesnyder2

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Tuscaloosa News All-Area high school cross country teams