Warriors, Irish claim state XC titles
Even in November, the sweltering southern heat can rear its ugly head.
That was clear Thursday, Nov. 5, as several area runners battled through tough conditions at the TSSAA cross country state championships at Shelby Farms Park in Memphis.
The Christian Academy of Knoxville girls team finished first overall in the Division II-A girls race with 23 points, bringing home their first state title since 2012. And the Knoxville Catholic boys won the Division II-AA state title with 56 points, claiming the program’s fourth state title and second in the last three years.
For CAK, Sophie Lee (18:40.08) finished first overall, followed by Emery Adams (18:46.14) in second, Haylee Gasparic (18:52.04) in third and Lydia Rouse (19:30.59) in fifth to total four Warriors in the top 10.
The Catholic boys saw three top-10 finishes with Cade Duncanson (15:42.82) in seventh place, Evan Van De Griff (15:49.30) in eighth and Reid Bannister (15:55.10) in 10th. Behind them, Nathan Jurbergs (16:05.47) finished 12th with Riley Horton (16:20.24) in 19th.
On the boys side, CAK finished third as a team with Ayden Burke (16:20.60) leading the team in sixth place.
In the Division II large girls race, Knoxville Catholic finished second with 79 points.
On the Division I side, the Hardin Valley girls finished fourth overall with 161 points, as Ana Berkheimer (18:51.47) led the Hawks in 10th place. The aforementioned heat affected former HVA frontrunner Allie Vesser, who was neck-and-neck with eventual winner Hadleih Mitchey from Maryville before Vesser passed out due to the heat.
“It was a tough break for her, really a blow to her season,” HVA coach John Witsell said. “And Mitche hasn’t been able to hang with Allie before so it was a really disappointing situation.
“She is going to be one of our all-time greats,” he added of Vesser, who is committed to Tennessee Tech. “She holds several school records, including the 5K record, and we hope to have a good rest of the year with her in the national-caliber races.”
Stephen Bell led the Hawks in 31st in the boys race, as HVA finished sixth as a team. The Farragut boys finished 16th with a 17th-place finish from the girls, as Chase Temples (15:58.34) led all Admirals with an 11th-place finish to cement an All-State ranking.
“The goal going in was to get Chase into All-State, and he ran a really good race,” FHS coach Garrett Jones said. “He was only 10 seconds from fifth, did what he needed to do. Shelby Farms is definitely a tough course, but the boys battled hard with the heat. I’m really happy with how we battled, and some things didn’t go our way. But that’s the way it unfolds and you can’t complain too much with how we ran.”
Farragut’s Addison Haynes (19:47.13) led the Lady Ads in 33rd, and Zoi LeCours (20:12.74) finished 49th.
“Two girls were in the top 50,” Jones said, “but with the weather, I’m proud of how they battled.”
