Clay Oden, a senior runner for Brewer High School, has signed a letter of intent to run distance races for the University of North Alabama.

Oden has competed in 5K cross-country events for Brewer since he was a freshman, winning all-state honors as a junior and senior. He is Morgan County’s 2010 and 2011 5K champion and was named Runner of the Year in 2011. His career-best 5K time is 16:17, which was posted last fall at Scottsboro. He finished as the eighth best distance runner in the state as a senior.

Oden completed paperwork for his scholarship in the school library on Thursday with his parents, coaches and teammates looking on.

He will join the UNA long distance team next fall and compete in 8K and longer races. Academically, he has an interest in Biology but has not yet decided what major course of study he will pursue.

“Clay brings recognition to himself because of his dedication, self-discipline and strong work ethic,” said Brewer cross country coach Jeff Thompson. “He is always pushing himself to improve as an athlete, is very competitive on the race course and is an excellent student. I expect him to do well at UNA.”

“He has been a great asset to our cross country team and we’re looking forward to seeing him perform as a mile and two-mile runner this spring as a member of our outdoor track team,” Thompson added.

Clay’s parents are Scott and Rebecca Oden of Eva.

“He started walking at 10 months and was always very active as a child,” said Scott’s mother, “but I never dreamed that one day he would be a successful distance runner.”

“This is a good opportunity for Clay,” his father said. “It’s something he wants to do and the scholarship will be a big help meeting college expenses.”

Clay said he runs six to 10 miles every day to keep in shape and drives himself to get in the lead and win every race he runs.

“Big helpings of good, home-cooked food helps, too,” he added.

Clay said he and his classmates were required to run a mile in PE beginning in the fourth grade.

“I enjoyed running back then and I kept it up on my own,” he stated. “But I didn’t realize I was good enough to compete at high school until I was in the eighth grade. “I started running with an older friend and was able to run faster than he. That’s when I started pushing to improve my speed and endurance.”