KYA Athletes Take On The South Region
By Chris Kane
11/30/13 - Knoxville Youth Athletics wrapped up Thanksgiving weekend by making the annual trip to Charlotte, NC for the Footlocker Cross Country South Regional. Over 2800 athletes participated in the meet with 75 of our athletes prepared to compete with many wrapping up their season with one final race. The clear highlight beside the huge amount of PR’s and All-South honors (top 30) was the Seeded Boys race. With only 10 spots for the plane to San Diego and the Footlocker National Championship on the line in two weeks, Aaron Templeton showed he was ready to not only make a return trip but ready to compete for the title. Aaron won the race in 14:36 making him the #4 all-time runner at McAlpine Park and winning by 8 seconds. While that was the biggest highlight it was certainly not the only one. Many top 30 finishers in their grade or age group race stand out. The 11-12 girls dominated with 3 in the top 6 and 6 in the top 21 (Picture below) while Tanner Witsell led the way in the grade races finishing 13th in the Freshman Boys race. 
(From Left: Helen Babb (13th), Niki Narayani (3rd), Lindsay Holliday (6th), Emily Nixon (36th), Kaitlyn Newman (20th), Addison Smith (2nd)
Below are those athletes who earned All-South Designation:
Aaron Templeton (1st in Boys Championship Race)
Addison Smith (2nd in 11-12 Girls)
Niki Narayani (3rd in 11-12 Girls)
Lindsay Holliday (6th in 11-12 Girls)
Kaleigh Peevy (10th in 10&under Girls)
Seth Bowden (11th in 13-14 Boys)
Madison Grimm (12th in 13-14 Girls)
Helen Babb (13th in 11-12 Girls)
Tanner Witsell (13th in Freshman Boys)
Laura Bretscher (14th in 13-14 Girls)
Jordan Van Druff (14th in 13-14 Boys)
Louis Morris (15th in Sophomore Boys)
Megan Murray (16th in Sophomore Girls)
Jack Williams (17th in 10&under Boys)
Gavin Cooper (17th in 13-14 Boys)
Kaitlyn Newman (20th in 11-12 Girls)
Amanda Martin (20th in Junior Girls)
Cathryn Jardet (21st in 11-12 Girls)
Taylor Drake (24th in Freshman Boys)
Tommy Banker (25th in 13-14 Boys)
Reece Rose (29th in Junior Boys)
Joe Bindner (30th in Junior Boys)
Plenty of great pics from this weekend are now on our Knoxville Youth Athletics facebook page including the ones in this article.
Next week, 10 KYA athletes head to Fort Gordon, GA to face runners from around the country in the AAU National Championships! The following week Aaron will be in San Diego for the Footlocker Nationals! We will be posting a link to the live video on our facebook page.
