Smith’s sweep ‘means a lot’
By Steve Williams
The cheers for Keegan Smith down the straightaway to the finish line seemed to be louder than ever at Saturday morning’s annual KIL Boys’ Cross Country Meet.
The Knoxville Catholic High senior couldn’t have been more deserving.
Keegan stuck out four fingers on his hand about 10 yards from his final stride in reference to his unprecedented four KIL championships.
Smith also bettered his KIL meet and course record time with a 14:52.11 performance on the 5,000-meter Cherokee Boulevard course.
“As a freshman I didn’t really imagine I could ever do this because there is always such great competition,” said Keegan. “It seems like all the really fast guys in Knoxville always show out for this meet.
“But as the years went on, especially this year, it was a goal that was at the very forefront of my mind – almost like to the same level of the state championship is on my mind. But yeah, I definitely wanted to take care of business this year and to be the only guy to do so – it means a lot. I know that when I represent Knoxville at all of these big races, I think back to times like this where there’s just a lot of really good runners all giving it their best.”
Smith, a University of Colorado commit, was surprised at the awards’ presentation as Christy Baird, the only girls’ four time winner of the KIL meet, was on hand to give him his 2024 medal.
Christy won her four KIL medals while running at West High in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998. She then ran for the Lady Vols at UT.
In the girls’ individual race, Jazzlyn Garmer, a Webb junior, came down the stretch with a big smile on her face and a big lead. She posted a winning time of 17:30.38.
“It was a really good race and I was just happy because our team came into it wanting to all be there close together finishing and we did that today. I also was very close to a personal best time, which is always pretty exciting. So, when I ran across the line I was so happy.
“Today I was feeling pretty good, so I went ahead and pushed the pace the last mile because I knew it was coming up on a fast time and I wanted to get as close to it as I could.”
In the team competition (lowest score wins), Webb’s girls came out on top with 29 points, followed by Hardin Valley (55), Catholic (57), Farragut (99) and West (156).
In the boys’ team standings, Catholic prevailed with 32 points, followed by Hardin Valley (58), Farragut (63), CAK (151) and West (153).
KIL BOYS’ TOP TEN
The Top 10 individual finishers this year: 1-Keegan Smith (Catholic) 14:52.11, 2-Gabe Allen (Hardin Valley) 15:08.05, 3-Evan Beeler (Farragut) 15:22.85, 4-Radek Molchan (Catholic) 15:24.90, 5-Josh Hunt (Hardin Valley) 15:32.96, 6-Tanner Coggin (Farragut) 15:36.62, 7-Nicholas Burke (West) 15:38.82, 8-Cade Duncanson (Catholic) 15:41.81, 9-Tony Ortega (Catholic) 15:48.77, 10-Reid Bannister (Catholic) 15:56.75.
KIL GIRLS’ TOP TEN
The Top 10 individual finishers: 1-Jazzlyn Garmer (Webb) 17:30.38, 2-Carolina Areheart (Webb) 17:53.98, 3-Alexandra Vesser (Hardin Valley) 18:29.08, 4-Calysta Garmer (Webb) 18:47.63, 5-Livi Ray (Catholic) 19:10.84, 6-Catlin Daniels (Catholic) 19:19.68, 7-Ariana Vargas (Webb) 19:32.17, 8-Campbell Asti (West) 19:42.40, 9-Ana Berkheimer (Hardin Valley) 19:45.36, 10-Drew Gerken (Catholic) 19:52.81.
