The weather cooperated for once (a rarity at State!) and the races were competitive on Saturday at the 2007 TSSAA State Championship Cross Country meet.
The day started with the A/AA girls race, where defending champion, junior Jessica Duble from Chattanooga Christian School, ran away with the championship title. She took a commanding lead just before the two mile mark and never looked back.
"When I passed her I just thought that I needed to go quickly and get a lead on her," Duble said. "And then when I get to the last 800m just let it all go."
Duble's race tactics were similar to her tactics in 2006, where she didn't gap the second place runner until about six hundred meters from the finish line. She rarely leads races early on and Saturday was no different.
"I was just trying to be consistent with how hard I felt I was pushing myself," she said. "It ended up that my splits were pretty even so that was good."
"It feels pretty good," Duble said of being a two-time individual State Champion. "It was different competition this time so it was a different race, but it felt really good to win again."
In the A/AA guys race, race favorite junior Brandon Mahaney (probably the most humble person I've ever met) from Macon High School also ran away with the title. Mahaney was the top returner and is the defending 3200m champion. He also finished runner up in the 1600m at State Track this spring.
"The correlation between winning the 3200 and placing second in the 1600 and being the returning favorite, it's a challenge to come in knowing that you're the favorite, but obviously you can't come in too cocky, you can't come in with your head high in the clouds, but there was some pressure involved," Brandon told me over the phone last night. "I definitely had that on my shoulders. I came in hoping the team would do well. I care more about the team than I do the individual title. I was really more focused on the team than how I did."
Brandon says that he plans on competing in the Foot Locker South regional championship on November 24.
"I'm going to go up there (to Charlotte, NC) and check (Foot Locker) out. I did that last year and it was the first time running it, I didn't know what to expect. Going into last year's race I was hoping to run sub-17, I ended up running a 30 second PR. That's a race I plan on competing in and maybe I can get another PR, that'd be nice," he said. "I'm looking to finish in the top thirty. I would definitely be very, very satisfied with top thirty at that race. I definitely want to be in the fifteens, under sixteen. I'm definitley going to be focused and getting ready and doing some training for that. The competition will definitely be there so just take the ride."
Some of the competition Mahaney refers to includes both the AAA champion and the runner up, Sean Keveren and Matt Sonnenfeldt, respectively. Keveren, who was ranked third individual in the nation entering the season, beat Sonnenfeldt by six seconds on Saturday. After running high-quality races the last couple of weeks, culminating with his strong showing at State on Saturday, Sonnenfeldt is also a big contender for a trip to Foot Locker Nationals.
In DII-AA, The Baylor School senior Waldo du Plessis won by about twelve seconds, and Baylor junior Bill Matthews was runner up. Baylor also placed runners fourth, sixth, and tenth, for a total team score of twenty-two, which is a record-low for the State meet.
Baylor, ranked fourth in the Southeast right now, is looking to compete at the Nike Team Nationals regional meet in Hoover, Alabama on November 24. The top two teams from that race will win an expense-paid trip to Nike World Headquarters in Portland, Oregon for the National Championship race.
"Pretty much anything from now on is gravy," Baylor senior Colton Popp said of NTN. "We're still gonna be training hard and working hard, still have to decide who our seventh man is, but besides that it's pretty much not getting aggravated with each other for another month, holding on doing some quality workouts and give us the best chance to make it.
"We're ranked fourth, but I think we're -- on an average race -- should be third. On a good race, we're first or second, but a race we expect, I think we'll get third. Just a race we're happy with, not even one where everyone PR's, and I think we're third place."
Another team looking at qualifying for NTN is Oak Ridge High School. The Wildcats, who are ranked second in the Southeast right now, won with 48 points, led by senior MacLean O'Donnell, who finished in third place behind Keveren and Sonnenfeldt.
In DII-A, a new race this year with only eight teams due to the TSSAA's questionable split of Division II into large schools and small schools, University School of Nashville won, and Stephen Williams of St. George's School was the individual champion.
On the ladies' side, defending State and National champion Kathy Kroeger ran away with the AAA race, beating runner-up Virginia Hine by over forty seconds. Both girls raced at Foot Locker Nationals last year and both are expected to return this year, although Kroeger battled stress fractures early in the season after taking track season off, she appears to be in top form again.
The Oak Ridge High School Lady Wilcats won in a more convincing fashion than their men, with a 43 point victory. They also plan on competing at the Nike Team Nationals regional championship meet, and are currently ranked fifth in the Southeast.
In DII-A women (a race with only four teams!), University School of Nashville won with twenty-five points. In DII-AA, St. Agnes won over Ensworth 39-75.
The day started with the A/AA girls race, where defending champion, junior Jessica Duble from Chattanooga Christian School, ran away with the championship title. She took a commanding lead just before the two mile mark and never looked back.
"When I passed her I just thought that I needed to go quickly and get a lead on her," Duble said. "And then when I get to the last 800m just let it all go."
Duble's race tactics were similar to her tactics in 2006, where she didn't gap the second place runner until about six hundred meters from the finish line. She rarely leads races early on and Saturday was no different.
"I was just trying to be consistent with how hard I felt I was pushing myself," she said. "It ended up that my splits were pretty even so that was good."
"It feels pretty good," Duble said of being a two-time individual State Champion. "It was different competition this time so it was a different race, but it felt really good to win again."
In the A/AA guys race, race favorite junior Brandon Mahaney (probably the most humble person I've ever met) from Macon High School also ran away with the title. Mahaney was the top returner and is the defending 3200m champion. He also finished runner up in the 1600m at State Track this spring.
"The correlation between winning the 3200 and placing second in the 1600 and being the returning favorite, it's a challenge to come in knowing that you're the favorite, but obviously you can't come in too cocky, you can't come in with your head high in the clouds, but there was some pressure involved," Brandon told me over the phone last night. "I definitely had that on my shoulders. I came in hoping the team would do well. I care more about the team than I do the individual title. I was really more focused on the team than how I did."
Brandon says that he plans on competing in the Foot Locker South regional championship on November 24.
"I'm going to go up there (to Charlotte, NC) and check (Foot Locker) out. I did that last year and it was the first time running it, I didn't know what to expect. Going into last year's race I was hoping to run sub-17, I ended up running a 30 second PR. That's a race I plan on competing in and maybe I can get another PR, that'd be nice," he said. "I'm looking to finish in the top thirty. I would definitely be very, very satisfied with top thirty at that race. I definitely want to be in the fifteens, under sixteen. I'm definitley going to be focused and getting ready and doing some training for that. The competition will definitely be there so just take the ride."
Some of the competition Mahaney refers to includes both the AAA champion and the runner up, Sean Keveren and Matt Sonnenfeldt, respectively. Keveren, who was ranked third individual in the nation entering the season, beat Sonnenfeldt by six seconds on Saturday. After running high-quality races the last couple of weeks, culminating with his strong showing at State on Saturday, Sonnenfeldt is also a big contender for a trip to Foot Locker Nationals.
In DII-AA, The Baylor School senior Waldo du Plessis won by about twelve seconds, and Baylor junior Bill Matthews was runner up. Baylor also placed runners fourth, sixth, and tenth, for a total team score of twenty-two, which is a record-low for the State meet.
Baylor, ranked fourth in the Southeast right now, is looking to compete at the Nike Team Nationals regional meet in Hoover, Alabama on November 24. The top two teams from that race will win an expense-paid trip to Nike World Headquarters in Portland, Oregon for the National Championship race.
"Pretty much anything from now on is gravy," Baylor senior Colton Popp said of NTN. "We're still gonna be training hard and working hard, still have to decide who our seventh man is, but besides that it's pretty much not getting aggravated with each other for another month, holding on doing some quality workouts and give us the best chance to make it.
"We're ranked fourth, but I think we're -- on an average race -- should be third. On a good race, we're first or second, but a race we expect, I think we'll get third. Just a race we're happy with, not even one where everyone PR's, and I think we're third place."
Another team looking at qualifying for NTN is Oak Ridge High School. The Wildcats, who are ranked second in the Southeast right now, won with 48 points, led by senior MacLean O'Donnell, who finished in third place behind Keveren and Sonnenfeldt.
In DII-A, a new race this year with only eight teams due to the TSSAA's questionable split of Division II into large schools and small schools, University School of Nashville won, and Stephen Williams of St. George's School was the individual champion.
On the ladies' side, defending State and National champion Kathy Kroeger ran away with the AAA race, beating runner-up Virginia Hine by over forty seconds. Both girls raced at Foot Locker Nationals last year and both are expected to return this year, although Kroeger battled stress fractures early in the season after taking track season off, she appears to be in top form again.
The Oak Ridge High School Lady Wilcats won in a more convincing fashion than their men, with a 43 point victory. They also plan on competing at the Nike Team Nationals regional championship meet, and are currently ranked fifth in the Southeast.
In DII-A women (a race with only four teams!), University School of Nashville won with twenty-five points. In DII-AA, St. Agnes won over Ensworth 39-75.