Wow! Knox girls dominate II-AA state meet
By Steve Williams
Knoxville girls showed their supremacy Thursday in Tennessee high school cross country’s Division II Class AA.
Topped by Webb’s Garmer twins going 1-2, the Lady Spartans made it 1-2-3 with Carolina Areheart’s third place finish.
And including the Catholic girls, Knoxville had nine runners in the top 21.
Calysta Garmer, a junior, took first place with a time of 17:46.55 over the Sanders Ferry Park 5,000-meter course in Hendersonville. Her sister Jazzlyn ran a 17:53.37. Areheart was clocked in 17:57.36.
Behind the Big Three were Catholic freshman Drew Gerken in eighth place at 19:03.62, followed freshman teammate Livi Ray in ninth place.
Also earning All-State honors by placing in Top 15 were Webb sophomore Emma Cissna in 12th, Catholic freshman Caitlin Daniels in 14th and Webb sophomore Ariana Vargas in 15th.
Webb senior Kristina Weaver came in 21st place and Catholic junior Brianna Cisneros in 30th.
Webb won the team championship with a 33 score. Catholic (109) placed third.
In Class A-AA, Ava Moody of Anderson County won the state title. The Region 2 champion posted a time of 18:17.36 at the state meet.
Carter freshman Mae Anderson, who was Knox County’s top state qualifier in A-AA, placed 59th in the field of 241 runners. Her time was 21:46.12.
Signal Mountain took the team title, while Alcoa was sixth and AC 10th. South-Doyle finished 26th in the field of 30 teams and was led by senior Gabby Hernandez.
In Class AAA girls, Claire Stegall of Nolensville was the champion with a time of 17:28.35. Brentwood’s team placed first with 38 points, while Hardin Valley took fifth with a 168 total.
In Division II-A girls, senior Abby Faith Cheeseman of Webb (Bell Buckle) finished first in 17:22.47. CAK eighth grader Emery Adams came in sixth place to earn All-State honors. Columbia Academy won the team title with a 44 score. Grace Christian placed fifth and CAK sixth.
Smith ends like he started – a state champion
By Steve Williams
Keegan Smith started his prep career with a TSSAA state cross country championship at Sanders Ferry Park in 2021 and ended it there with a state title Thursday.
It was very rewarding for the Knoxville Catholic senior to step back up to the top of the awards’ podium after posting his best time in his last run at state with a 14:59.16 over the 5K course in Hendersonville.
When Keegan won as a freshman, he was clocked in 15:29.09. He finished fourth at state as a sophomore and third as a junior.
“It means the world to me, especially when I get to celebrate the victory with my guys,” said Smith. “We have put in hours upon hours of hard work for this moment. I can’t imagine it any other way. I have run well and not so well at Sanders Ferry.”
Smith also said he was “sad” that the state meet would be moving to a new site starting next year. “A lot of history was made during this short stint at Sanders Ferry with a lot of great runners taking to the course over the last five years.
“To close out my cross country prep career with two state championships is a blessing and I thank God for giving me the ability to compete at my highest level today and everyday!”
Keegan’s showing also led Catholic to the team title, which was decided by a tie breaker. Both the Fighting Irish and McCallie finished with 62 points. A better time in the sixth running position was the difference.
Teammates following Smith were junior Radek Molchan in seventh place (15:43.99), sophomore Cade Duncanson in 11th place (16:03.01), freshman Reid Bannister in 21st place and freshman Evan Van De Griff in 22nd place.
Catholic’s No. 6 runner, senior Tony Ortega, placed 25th and broke the tie for the team title. He was followed by senior Gonzalo Vela, who placed 29th as the team’s No. 7 runner.
In the Class AAA boys state meet, Hardin Valley won the team championship with 88 points. Farragut (127) was third.
Individually for HVA, Garrett Hawkins came in fourth, Gabe Allen in seventh and Josh Hunt in 15th place. All three are seniors and earned All-State honors.
Also running for Hardin Valley were Cooper McKaig and Sean Brown in the Top 5 plus Aiden Rufi and Andrew Parks.
Region 2 champion Evan Beeler of Farragut placed third at state, West’s Nicholas Burke in 10th, Farragut’s Tanner Coggin in 11th and Karns’ Rowen Moser-Bryan in 13th.
In Division II-A, Eli Wharton of Davidson Academy took first place in 16:08.77. CAK senior Andrew Mansfield earned All-State honors with his 14th place showing (17:10.17). In the team competition, Davidson Academy was the winner. CAK came in fifth.
In Class A-AA, Liberty Creek’s Jaden Hillis took top honors in 15:43.48. Zachari Ostrander from Cumberland County and out of Region 2 placed fifth.
Seymour’s Samuel Mize came in 59th out of the 255 runners. Ethan Askey, Knox County’s top representative from South-Doyle, finished 81st.
Central Magnet was the team champion. L&N STEM Academy placed 23rd among 31 teams and was led by Jeremiah Jones and Koli York, who came across the finish line back to back.
