Staying the course: Mac Macoy Follows in his Father's Footsteps

Mac Macoy stood in the field waiting for a signal.

On both sides were hundreds of other teenage runners, each deciding how to best make it across the grass and into the trees ahead of the pack. Mac thought about Payton Ballard, a senior from Mountain Brook who bested him in every race the two competed in that season.

The gun sounded announcing the beginning of the 2012 Alabama Cross Country State Championships, and Mac, a junior at Vestavia Hills High, watched as Ballard took the lead. But Mac kept a steady pace through the first two miles of the course and eventually he caught up.

“So it was just me and (Ballard) going into the last 300 meters, and we were both hurting like crazy,” Mac said. “I could tell he was burnt out.”

The final section of the race, held at the Oakville Indian Mounds Park and Educational Center near Moulton, is shaped like a horseshoe. When Mac reached the bend neck-and-neck with his rival, Mac’s father expected the worst.

“I ran around to the finish line and stuck my head out of the crowd where I could see,” Coy Macoy said. “I’m expecting to see (Ballard) in the lead, and there was Mac.

“I was shocked, but I was so proud. It was pretty exciting moment.”

And for good reason.

Only two Vestavia Hills High School students have been first across the finish line in the Boys AHSAA Cross Country State Championships. That day in 2012, Mac Macoy became the second.

His father was the first.

Coy was a VHHS senior running the finals on a 3-mile course in South Alabama when took first place in the 1981 event, and 31 years later Mac followed in his father’s footsteps.

In 2012, Mac completed the 3.1-mile course in 15:37.30, leading Vestavia Hills’ to its first 6A AHSAA Cross Country Championship in 25 years. Its last came in 1987. VHHS also became the first school since 1998 other than Mountain Brook or Hoover High to take the state cross country title.

Starting slow

Mac was born to runners but wasn’t necessarily born a runner. His father had success in the sport in high school and his mother, Adrienne Macoy, in college at UAB. She still runs marathons.

“It’s great for the family that we all have this in common,” Adrienne said. “It’s just fun.”

But in junior high, Mac was more of a golfer. At least, he wanted to be. The family attributes its faith in God to Mac’s change of direction.

With the tryouts for the seventh grade golf team approaching, Mac fell ill and, in February, missed his first day of school that year. He also missed the mandatory meeting required to tryout for the team and wasn’t allowed a makeup.

“We told him, ‘You have to do something,’” Adrienne said. “He was one who came home couple weeks later and said he was going to go do track. When he said that we kind of giggled, because, when he played baseball, watching him run the bases was like watching a turtle.”

“Literally, from home to first, he was the slowest on his team,” Coy added, “but the thing is, Mac can run two miles at same pace he can run a half mile.”

And Mac proved that at the AHSAA State Track and Field Championship in May.

More to come

Going back 31 years, Coy trained for state distance running competitions traversing a puddle-heavy course at VHHS. He said, like his son does now, he ran about 50 miles a week in preparation. But Mac has assembled a host of healthy habits Coy never had.

“He’s real good about what eats, and he doesn’t drink soft drinks,” Coy said. “I pretty much ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Mac goes to bed early every night. I went to sleep when my parents made me go to sleep.

“He’s a lot more disciplined, and that’s probably the reason he’s doing a lot better than I did my junior year.”

Last month, VHHS placed fourth in the outdoor track state championships, but Mac took first place in the 3,200-meter event and as part of the 4x800-meter relay team.

He also won the 1,600-meter, and 31 years ago Coy won that race, too.

“I’m just very proud of him. He’s just earned it,” Coy said of his son. “He trains harder than any other high school kid I’ve seen. It’s special to have him do it after I did, but it’s really an honor to see the effort and work that he’s put into it.”

Besides Mac’s work ethic, the Macoy family credits his coaches, Track and Field and Cross Country Coach Brett Huber and Assistant Coach Tom Jennings, for training Mac to find success in the sport. A faith in God, Mac said, is also a powerful motivator on the course.

But one contributor that can’t be overlooked is that this talent runs in the family.