HIGH SCHOOL

Central Magnet’s Cuneo wins state title as freshman

Corby A. Yarbrough

NASHVILLE – Make it three in a row for Taylor Cuneo.

The Central Magnet freshman made good on her status as the favorite in Saturday’s TSSAA cross country championships at Percy Warner Park’s Steeplechase Course by winning the girls’ Class A/AA race.

Nerves? What nerves?

Cuneo’s nearly nine-second win gave her three state titles in three years after winning back-to-back state middle school titles.

“My family and my teammates support me a lot in what I do, and I just have to keep a clear head and not worry about competition or anything and the nerves just kind of go away,” Cuneo said after winning with a time of 18:57.58 over Christian Academy of Knoxville freshman Rebecca Story (19:06.53).

“I think I’ve just been trying to focus on my training rather than competition and I wanted to get out here and do my best race.”

Cuneo is the second Central Magnet female runner to win state in as many years. Claudia Smith was the 2013 state champion.

Siegel Nicole Gardner has been where Cuneo is before. The Lady Stars’ senior was third last year, won it as a sophomore, and was second as a freshman. Gardner had visions of closing out her prep cross country career with another Class AAA top-three finish, but her times just did not cooperate this season. She ran a 19:03.59 to cross the line in seventh.

“This season was a frustrating season. The times weren’t where I wanted them to be. I’m not sure why,” Gardner said.

On a cold and windy day, the front pack of the race pushed the speed the first mile, and it left Gardner with a decision to either hang on and potentially blow up or control her own pace.

“You don’t go into a race not wanting to win, obviously. That first mile they went out pretty fast and that’s when you decide. It’s a by feel thing,” she said. “It’s my last race I just want to go out there and have fun and do my best.”

Oakland’s Eli Leskinen also battled his mind, his body, and the cold in his final race at Steeplechase.

“It was tough. I started hurting really early on and I wasn’t expecting that,” Leskinen said. “At the end I could finish up and gave it my all, so I have no regrets.”

Giving it his all saw the Patriot senior move from just inside the top 15 as the race neared its end to a career-best ninth-place finish at the state meet thanks to a late burst up the incline toward the finish line.

“I thought this was my last state and I’m going to go out with a boom,” he said. “I really dug deep. I’m a senior and I didn’t want these underclassmen to beat me. The last 400 I really gave it all I had.”

The coverage area saw four others join Cuneo, Garner, and Leskinen as All-State runners — finishing top 15 in their race.

Siegel sophomore Victoria Simmons was 11th (19:15.34) in the AAA girls race. Smith was eighth (20:17.44) and Cannon County freshman Hannah Whited was 12th (20:34.89) in the A/AA girls race. Cannon County sophomore Marshall McReynolds was 14th (17:22.97) in the A/AA boys race

Grainger senior Zach Long (16:12.83) won the boys’ A/AA race. Morristown West junior Cherie Wilson (18:30.25) won the girls’ AAA race. Daniel Boone senior Adam Barnard (15:43.48) won the boys’ AAA race.

Team wise, Central Magnet finished third with 86 points in the Class A/AA girls team scores. Signal Mountain won it with 53 points. Canon County was sixth with 222 points.

Central Magnet’s boys finished 12th with 320 points.

In Class AAA, Oakland’s boys was eighth (285). Siegel was ninth with 298 points. Riverdale was 19th with 495 points. Daniel Boone won the Class AAA title with 47 points. Siegel was eighth in the girls team scores with 246 points. Riverdale was 11th with 287 and Blackman was 23rd with 582 points.

Morristown West won the girls with 51 points.