Springs Valley Community High School

Alan Marshall and Grant Brown have taken nearly every step of their running careers together. Since Marshall recruited Brown to run cross country in junior high, the pair have won races, set personal record after personal record, taken over as the top runners on the varsity team and more. This past season they even went so far as to team up and win the Darrell Kingery Hokum Karem, a tandem race in which the duo topped competition from all over Southern Indiana. Their one departure from this trend, at least the most notable one, came at the end of the 2021 season. Brown managed to advance to semi-state as an individual and Marshall didn’t. Then Brown made the Class 1A All-State team, the first time a Springs Valley runner had done so, and Marshall didn’t. It was something they hoped to accomplish together, but when they didn’t it served as motivation for Marshall. This season, they righted that. Not only did both of them make the Class 1A All-State team after leading their team to a semi-state berth, another first for the program, but sophomore Carson Brown joined them in earning the honor. “I was proud of him, I just wished we could’ve done it together. Grant’s an exceptional runner and he 100-percent deserved it,” Marshall said. “It feels great (to have made the All-State team), but it’s not over. I’m not satisfied. I want to make it to State, I want to keep getting better and keep improving, and I hope Grant will also want to do that so we can keep pushing each other.” For Marshall, the honor was vindicating. He knew — as did his coaches and teammates — that he was the caliber of runner that deserved a place on the wall of the high school gymnasium. His hard work after his sophomore season and through his junior season finally earned him that. “It feels really good,” Marshall said. “I’m glad I could make my mark on that wall.” The younger Brown’s place on the All-State team wasn’t guaranteed by any means. He’d constantly been running right with Grant and Alan, but he was still an underclassman. Over the course of his sophomore season though he gradually earned the honor, getting better and better as the campaign continued. “I’m really glad. I’m very proud of us, especially for Grant because he’s got it twice,” Carson Brown said. “Hopefully we can do it again next year and then I can get it senior year.” The elder Brown, now a two-time All-State selection, has reached the point where his resume is beginning to rival that of any athlete Springs Valley’s had in any sport, let alone in cross country. If he were to earn a third all-state nod, he’d be just the second athlete in school history to do so. Allison Hammond was the first, being named an All-State volleyball player in 2010, 2011, and 2012. If Brown managed to find his way to an All-State standing in track and field, he could possibly become the first four-time honoree. “I just feel very honored to even be up there,” Grant Brown said. “It’s very motivating to get it twice, it just further supports the idea that I’m meant to be up there and I don’t know if anyone’s ever been up there three times. That’s a really big goal that I’m chasing.” Prior to Grant Brown’s selection in 2021, All-State wasn’t really something that the Blackhawks ever considered as a possibility. When he did get that honor, Springs Valley coach Derek Freeman hoped it would be a watershed moment for his program and to this point it’s proven to be just that. Zero selections turned into one, which turned into four and, if the Blackhawks continue at this pace it could be many, many more within the next few years. Freeman himself has been very happy to see the hard work his runners have put in pay off the way it has. “It’s one of the greatest things for me as a coach because I’ve seen kids who put in the work and some kind of setback has caused them to not reach their ultimate goal. Even last year, Alan worked extremely hard and was right there with Grant, but at the end of the year it didn’t pan out for Alan to make it to semi-state,” Freeman said. “It’s just extremely rewarding to see them put in so much work, so many miles, so many hours, so much into their diet and their sleep habits and tracking their hydration and so many little things that people don’t see, and then have it pay off. “You want to see kids reach their goals and beyond and when they face setbacks it can be hard on them, so this was one of those things where I knew that these goals were attainable, but to see them reach it just makes me proud.” The coach, like his runners, also knows that this isn’t the end for his trio of All-Staters. They’re just starting to scrape the surface of what they’re capable of. Marshall and Grant Brown still have two track seasons and a cross country season as Blackhawks. Carson Brown has three track seasons and two cross country seasons. That gives them a lot of time to continue improving and racking up accolades in a way that hasn’t been seen before by the program and might not be seen for a long time afterwards. “If there is a ceiling, I don’t know what it is,” Freeman said. “We set goals because most of our training has to be based off of times that we want to reach, but as we continue to progress I’m just excited to see where they raise the bar to, because it may be to heights that we may not see for a long time. “Everybody needs to keep an eye out because it might be fun to watch these guys over the next year and a half.”