TN Classic Preview

It's the middle of September which means it's time for the 37th Annual TN Classic Cross Country meet! Over the past few years, the sport of cross country has grown exponentially. The youth organizations across TN are seeing record numbers of middle and elementary school athletes taking up the sport. That's great news for the high school level too as we'll be seeing more seasoned athletes joining the ranks over the years to come! The TN Classic has been going strong for some 37 years, so having the word "Classic" in its title is no doubt an accurate and insightful choice. AllTrax timing, or to be more specific, Jim Kaiser, keeps the tradition of this long running race going strong each year! The fact that it's the state championship venue, well, should bring out who's running well and who needs some work!


It seems a lot of things traditional are getting upgrades lately. In other words, they're losing what some call their tradition, whatever that may have been. That doesn't mean it's bad. But it also isn't saying it's good either. Now taking a look at cross country, it used to be that we would start out in a wide open start and have a mad dash for a small entryway into a wooded trail or something similar. Once you got into that trail, you were almost locked into a position. If the athlete in front of you fell over a tree stump or lost their footing, you could pass. That tradition has kind of gone the wayside over the past few years. In this case, a pretty good move. But the one thing in cross country that is a tradition is the wide open start and a race to some kind of narrowing spot and all to get into position to tackle the race ahead. For the TN Classic, the Steeplechase course at Percy Warner Park provides one of the best settings for that! Huge wide open start followed by a narrowing through the fence. And it's a downhill start and hugely spectator friendly, so even that much better.

So who's keeping the tradition going and running in this year's race. This race always has a great turnout from all across the state and some bordering states as well. A few teams that enter this race are looking for what their athletes can do so they can start making decisions that affect the state championships. I've noticed some injuries lately across the state for some of the athletes, more so than in past years. I'm curious to why that is trending lately. But either way, coaches will look at this race as a good opportunity to see who has the mettle to handle this tough state championship course and then who may just be the choice for that last coveted spot to make the state team.

The meet has three divisions, the Gold, Silver and JV classes. Between the Gold and Silver, it's basically balanced by the size of the school and not necessarily the level of competition. Both classes have athletes that are strong and fast so I'll just go through some of the athletes competing and see how the divisions stack up in the end.

On the boy's side, Chris Rayder from Houston High is making the three hour ride to the course and will test out how his 15:46.89 time he just ran at the Chickasaw Trails last week stacks up on this challenging course. I believe with the weather being dry lately, the course is probably going to be running fast. With a 9:40am start for the Gold boys, the heat shouldn't be too much of a problem. Another top runner to watch for is Station Camps Nathan Watson who also has a sub 16 this season (15:51.00). A runner out of Tates Creek in Lexington KY, Alex Mortimer, is likely to be out front here with his most recent race of 16:09. But Alex has run a track 5K of under 16 and a 3200 in 9:52.15 at the KY state track meet last season, so he could be a force to watch Saturday as well.

Cross country running always has its surprises so we could see some other athletes pushing their limits and making a run for the front here too. Cumberland County's Ben Tabor has a 16:24.99 this season already and considering he can run a 4:37 for the 1600, we could see a fast 5K from him this weekend. And as of this week, there are also several other runners with sub 17's that could get a spurt and show up strong this weekend.

On the team side, well, I'd have to make a big jump at a guess to predict which team could win the divisions. There are a lot of teams this week that have new athletes on their teams or have some injuries that change the makeup of their whole. It might just be a matchup between a couple of west TN area teams with Houston and Collierville having a couple of strong teams. Houston seems to have an edge and could walk away Saturday with the Gold title this year. But with Adam VanDeren leading the way for the team, the Collierville boys may also be a top contender here Saturday. Another one to watch might just be Sovereign Grace Academy coming into the meet with their top three runners looking pretty strong. Again folks, right now it's really just a huge guess on the team title with the way things look at this stage of the season.

For the Silver Boys, I see McCallie as having a strong team with two coming in under the 17 mark in Parker Marshall and Nelson Eiselstein. University School of Nashville has a strong team as well with Jacob Robinson their fastest at the moment. So I'll be just as curious as the rest of you to see who runs well at this meet and gets the team title. But right now, I'm just guessing on who that might be. But this course will certainly give the athletes and coaches something to think about over lunch on Saturday.

Now looking at the girls classes, there is a host of talented athletes coming into this meet this year. The girl's teams are also made up of a very balanced group coming from all grades and not one grade stands out this year as the dominant one. There are a lot of freshman entered and a lot of seniors. There are only a few schools relaying heavily on the seniors… Station Champ, Germantown, and Harding Academy look to be among those schools. Then there are schools with a predominately younger group…. Dresden being one, with a ninth grader that needs to be on your watch list, Loral Winn. Brentwood Academy also looks to bring in a younger group this year so they can test those girls out on this course. Then there's teams like Baylor that has 3 seniors, 3 freshman and 1 junior to make up a completely balanced team of experience and youthful enthusiasm. So, let's take a look at some athletes to watch for on Saturday.

The main Silver division competition might just come from Niamh Schumacher of King's Academy. Niamh's 18:32.68 puts her at the #5 spot in the state this year already and may be up for the challenge to make a runaway in the lead spot at this race Saturday. I'm curious as to who plans to challenge this athlete and make it interesting at the finish!

In the Gold division, Ella Baran and Michelle Myers (both of Houston) are a couple of other top runners getting ready to compete on Saturday. Michelle and Ella's times recently have been improving with Michelle running at Chickasaw (18:39) with a few seconds faster than Ella's time from the Brooks Twilight (18:49). Ella is (and has) capable of running even faster times though and a surprising point on Michelle is that she improved almost a full minute in just one week of races. Might be interesting to see what might happen Saturday.



With great competition among both the Gold and Silver divisions, here's a few other girls to be on the watch for. Ella and Michelle's teammate, Shian Mallory, Stratford High's Dharma Haller, Taylor Luthringer (Signal Mountain), Baylor's Grace Carlson, Sammy Brainard of Collierville, and we could even see Meghan Underwood of St. Benedict making a run at the top. All these girls have PR's for the 5K that range from the mid 18's to mid or low 19's and some great track experience to put a jolt into the finishing kick at this race. With the weather expecting to be pretty decent and no rain expected, this is going to be fun to watch for sure!

With five girls on their team that have run sub-20 for the 5K this season already, Houston seems to be the team to beat Saturday. And come later this season, in the November race at this same venue, they for sure will be one of the favorites for sure. They look strong this season, and strong is an understatement. And I'm hard pressed again to pinpoint the next best team in the Gold division as there seems to be a lot of talented teams and none really stand out so much as Houston at this meet. Add in the fact that the talent is pretty equal at the near top of the group this race, I'd be making a guess on who would be the next best team to challenge the Houston girls here. So what the heck, I'll guess… Collierville and Station Camp are probably the next best contenders in the Gold division. Again, my guess only!

In the Silver division, Signal Mountain is likely to be at the top with a pretty strong -- and very consistent -- group in their top five. University School of Nashville seems to be a good contender in the silver as well as Harpeth Hall who almost always is at the top or at least very close to it. And this is basically a home meet for the Harpeth Hall girls and that could give them the added incentive. St. Agnes is without their senior star, Laura Lys Shallow, because of an injury but these girls are known for stepping up their game during times like this, so I'm not so sure I'd count them out for a win, place, or show spot.


As I said throughout this article, this meet is going to be a tough call for the most part. The team stats are probably the hardest with the makeup of all the teams entering Saturday's events. There are some talented individuals but as we all know, this course has a way of breaking down an athlete if there's just a hint of uncertainty sneaking into the athlete's thoughts during this 5K. On the other hand, those athletes that come into this race with their confidence at its peak can really break out and post a huge time that will carry them well into the end of the season. So with that said, I'm sure there's athletes out there that I didn't mention that'll post some great times. And you know what, I hope that does happen because that is really what cross country running is like. You just never know who can handle the course, keep their footing, fight the confidence demons, and have a kick at the end to pull out ahead of the competition. So, bring it on athletes! Let's make the TN Classic a real classic!


See you on the track… and the grass!

Coach Ted