No luck needed for Irish at Mounds Invitational
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Knoxville Catholic’s Drew Gerken runs in The Mounds Invitational. - Tony Cox
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Knoxville Catholic’s Cade Duncanson, right, passes an Anderson County runner en route to a first-place finish at The Mounds Invitational in Oak Ridge Saturday, Sept. 19. - Tony Cox
For any cross country runner, a tactical approach is just as important as the physical fitness required to succeed.
That was evident for Knoxville Catholic last Saturday, Sept. 21, as the Irish featured five top-10 runners apiece in the boys and girls 5k races at The Mounds Invitational at the disc golf course that holds the same name in Oak Ridge.
“I think they’re maturing and learning how to race, how to take advantage of what the course gives them,” Catholic coach Sean O’Neil said. “It was a hilly course and was pretty hot. Just learning how to race better and move smarter, that made a huge difference for us.”
On the boys side, Cade Duncanson set a new course record to finish first at 15:48.80, leading Catholic. Behind Duncanson were Evan Van De Griff in third (16:02.30), Reid Bannister in fourth (16:21.00), Nathan Jurbergs in fifth (16:33.50) and Riley Horton in 10th (17:07.20).
“He stayed relaxed the first mile, and on a course like that, you have to,” O’Neil said of Duncanson, who also competed for Team USA this summer in Italy. “He did a really good job; once he made a move, he pushed himself to do more and wanted to see what time he could run. He did a good job keeping the pressure on.”
The same approach applied to the girls team, which saw a second-place finish from Caitlin Daniels (19:07.30) with Livi Ray in third (19:18.10), Drew Gerken in fourth (19:23.90), Julia Joyce in sixth (20:17.80) and Olivia Garcia in 10th (20:35.10).
“It’s been fun to watch them,” O’Neil said. “Caitlin, Drew and Livi were strong as freshmen, and they’ve worked a lot so it’s been great to see them reap the rewards of everything they’ve put into it.”
In the boys race, Bearden’s Baylor Cool finished first among other area runners at 16th overall (17:45.00), while Lucas Griffin (19:56.70) came in first for the Admirals at 60th overall.
On the girls side, Bearden’s Afton Cruze (23:05.90) finished first for the Bulldogs at 24th overall, while Farragut’s Tania Masheshwari (24:32.80) led the Lady Ads in 46th place.
As for his own squad, O’Neil said the Irish have grown together more as the season has unfolded.
“We are really coming together as a team, doing a better job of being accountable, and I feel like it’s building to something special,” he said. “Our best races are still ahead of us.”
