TMSAA State Cross Country Championship Meet Preview
Cross Country is a sport that requires a considerable amount of inner self confidence and a whole lot of desire to excel no matter how much discomfort you may be going through. Just think about this, you line up at a start line knowing in a few seconds you'll be pushing your body to its limits for not just a few seconds, but more like ten minutes, fifteen to twenty minutes or even longer. Why would you knowingly put yourself in that kind of pressure situation? And more importantly, at what point does this become something an athlete actually enjoys doing?
This coming Saturday, we are going to see some of the state's best middle school athletes possibly giving themselves the answers to those questions. At Austin Peay State University in Clarksville this Saturday will be the inaugural running of the TMSAA State Cross Country championships! Two classes, Class A and Class AA (school size based), will pit the best of the Middle School runners against each other. To get here, athletes had to qualify at any one of three preliminary meets. Since this is the first running of this State level meet, whoever wins gets to have the bragging rights as the first champion -- team and individual! Oh and let's not forget, being the first running also means whoever crosses the finish line first gets to say they just set the State Middle School Cross Country record! So… we have a few things at stake here this Saturday and excitement is certainly going to be at the top of that list!
Looking through the performance list, could we be getting a preview of some of the states best young cross country runners now and conceivably for many years to come! So let's take a rundown of the list of the top athletes coming out to run this first time event.
For the Boys 2 mile Class AA division, it appears that the Mt Juliet team is going to bring the top guns at this meet with Henry Griffin leading the way with his Middle Sectional qualifying time of 10:28.62. Their top three runners come into this meet with all three being ranked in the top 5 across the state. Tyler Stewart and Aaron Isbell have qualifying times only a second apart at 10:45.33 and 10:46.33 respectively. That's covering the #2, 3, and 4th ranked middle school athletes across the state for the middle school 2 mile distance. Pretty impressive!
Another one to look out for in the AA boys will be Station Camps Ryland McCullough who ran a 10:57.75 to qualify for the state meet. By the way, Ryland is also coming from the very highly competitive Middle sectional.
Another team that seems to have a good stock to pick from is Dickson with a couple of their runners breaking into the top ten ranked 2 milers. Zade Holt and Jake Slowinski are coming into this meet with times of 11:05.76 and 11:08.47. Landon Freeman, also of Dickson, who breaks into the top 20 for the state with his 11:26.26 qualifying time might just be someone to watch. Landon's time was almost 2 full minutes faster than his best 2 mile time he ran earlier in September. That kind of improvement might just be a good indication that he could bust out a good race. Of course, within the middle school ranks, seeing someone break out a super-fast race is not totally unheard of and we may just be in for a surprise from someone this Saturday as well!
Who else can we be watching for in the Class AA boys? West Wilson's Adler Kerr might just be one to watch and he also improved by a considerable margin qualifying for this meet. Adler ran an 11:09.13 to get 8th at his sectional qualifier and that was an improvement from his previous best of 13:13.07! Johnson Cooper ran to a top 5 finish at the qualifier by getting very close to breaking the 11 minute barrier with his 11:02.29. That was an improvement for him as well and puts him on the radar to go under 11 and possibly make a run at the Mt. Juliet boys for the top spot. Then of course we have Christiana athlete Eli Cramer coming in with a 11:09.77 that puts him in the number ten spot for the state at this distance and certainly a contender to watch for on Saturday.
Overall for the teams, I'm a bit hard pressed to not pick the Mt Juliet team to take the top spot with their lead guys running strong lately. Dickson Middle could be a team that might give them a chase and Christiana might also be near the top when the day is finished.
The girl's 2 mile AA class is also coming in with the top guns of the day. Mt. Juliet's Jalyn Jenkins happens to be the only 11 minute girl with her very impressive 11:10.50 that shoots her to the top of the state rankings and makes her the target to chase come Saturday. Jalyn's time was another one with a huge gap in improvement from previous races and so her potential may just be starting to surface.
The next fastest girl in the state coming into this meet is Kayleigh McIntrye of Oakland middle (12:09.44) and yes, also showing a huge improvement from her previous fastest race time. There seems to be a trend of improvement here and so some questions come up as to why…. Could be the course was easier for the qualifying rounds but what I've seen with these middle school athletes is more in depth than that. A lot of times these younger athletes are just learning what pace to start the race, how much they can handle, and just understanding what a little focused training might just accomplish.
So who else in this division should be on the radar? Marilyn McCarthy (12:16.32) is the number three ranked runner for girls at this distance and is likely to be the leader for the Siegel girls' team. Rock Springs athlete Hannah Opie (12:17.99) has only run a couple of posted races to date and so seems to be the surprise athlete we should keep an eye on at this race. And speaking of surprise athletes to watch for, I would keep a very close eye on West Wilson's Makenna Merkley. Makenna ran an early season best of 14:38.96 at the Warrior Invitation on September 5th and then ran a 15 flat a couple weeks later. Then Makenna comes into the middle sectional and busts out a third place finish with a 12:16.32 that was almost 2 and a half minutes better than her previous best! I've been pointing out how these athletes have improved, but this one is probably one that stands out the most, so keep an eye on her and let's see how she runs Saturday.
Dickson's Allie Potter qualified with a 12:25.98 and could be leading the Dickson team to a top spot at this race as well. Caitlyn Selwyn of Mt Juliet joins teammate Jalyn by cracking the top ten in the state with her 12:29.83 best time and possibly putting Mt. Juliet as the best chance to match the boy's side for a team title too. Of course Oakland may just be the favorite here with Kayleigh leading the way and a very tightly packed group to follow with McKenzie Louis (12:31.77), Eden Walkowski (12:33.72), and Ella Phillips at 12:34.48. Sasha Neglia (John Sevier) comes into this meet the capability of posting an 11:55.10 like she did last season. So Sasha may just be a one to watch as she may surprise us all and be on track for a fast race Saturday!
Seems with these all running so close it could just push them to pass others and leapfrog teams to the top of the podium Saturday. Between the boys and girls in the AA class, we'll get to see just over 200 athletes competing and when it comes to this level of competition and considering the age of these athletes, anything can happen!
Now onto the Class A athletes. There's a name sitting on the very top of the middle school 2 mile rankings and that name is Silas Winders. If you keep up with high school cross country, you probably are familiar with that name. The Winders name is a pretty familiar name at the top of all these rankings with Javan and Titus running near the top for the high school and now Silas holding steady with the top 2 mile spot for middle school athletes. Silas recently ran to a second place for the Junior High division at the prestigious Jesse Owens Classic while clocking a 10:30.61 for the 2.1 mile cross country race. Throw in his 10:15.41 qualifying time for this meet and he is going to be the top runner to watch at this race. I recently watch Javan (older brother maybe?) win the Frank Horton by a huge margin and I'm going to put it down that Silas may just do the same at this race Saturday. But then again, this is middle school aged runners who sometimes don't have the experience under their belt to be afraid or intimidated. That combination could just put someone in line to challenge this Henry County athlete and bust out a fast race Saturday too.
Here's some other athletes in this division that are on the watch list. Eli Callender of Central Magnet has an 11:33.72 qualifying time that was a huge improvement over other races this season and so seems ready to handle a strong race now. Cole Seiler of Santa Fe was just ahead of Eli at the Middle Sectional for this Class with a time about 0.62 seconds ahead and so close enough to expect this to be even closer come Saturday with the state championship place at stake!
One of Eli's teammates at Central Magnet looks like he may also be ready to challenge for the top front runners. Landry Wells ran to a 4th at the qualifier in a time of 11:38.24 and seems to be just now coming into shape as the end of the season approaches. I'd look for Landry to help form that lead pack as well. Patrick Jones (11:51.71) of Central Magnet could be inviting himself to that lead pack with his huge improvements this year at the distance.
And obviously the Central Magnet team looks like they may be the front runner for the team title if their top guns run as well as expected. It's going to be difficult to determine who may put up a contest to Central Magnet but to me, it's really wide open and any team can step up Saturday.
On the girls Class A side, I think we're going to see a good battle between two girls with one of them having a very familiar name as well. Coming into this meet for the Class A division with the top performing time is Dinah Winders of Henry County. Yep it's another Winders stepping up in this sport and I would think she will have a huge group of current cross country runners supporting her. This is one very talented family of runners and I'm thinking I just might want to tap into the water they drink because there's got to be something special there! Dinah ran a 12:19.88 to qualify for the state championships, already has a sub 6 minute outdoor 1600, and has an impressive list of competitions as well as having a few 1st place trophies that she's hoisted so far. And my jaw just dropped when I saw she was only a sixth grader! I'm going to be excited to see what she's capable of Saturday.
But for Dinah to get a top spot at this meet, she's is going to have to watch out for Central Magnet's Caroline Smith who comes to this meet with a 12:29.01 and the second fastest qualifier for the Class A division here. Should be a good match to watch as these two will no doubt make up the leaders, at least that's what it looks like so far! But like I said, its middle school cross country and anything can happen!
A couple others that couple possibly move up into the lead pack at this race might be Central Magnet's Zoe Naylor who ran a 13:38.82 at the middle sectional which was a PR and her fastest race this season. Her teammate also set a personal best at the sectional getting third and posting a 13:33.19. Larisa Sheets of Santa Fe middle placed 5th at the sectional with a 13:40.33 and even with the little experience she has in the sport, has suddenly jumped to a front runner spot for Saturday too. Bringing in a top ten performance also at the sectional was Henry County's Brooklyn McClain with a 13:51.69 at the meet and brings in a pretty good background in the sport and could be one to keep a close eye on as the race develops.
For the team section in the Class A girls, I'm leaning towards Central Magnet to be on the top but that's going to depend on how all the girls place. Santa Fe might also be contending. But I have to say, this one is a tossup with all the teams having talented athletes pretty spread out. But like I've said before… anything can happen and I'm looking forward to just that!
That's how I see some of the athletes in the middle school ranks look for this event. Is it set in stone? Of course not. Matter of fact, this is middle school and its athletes that may have been running for a while or maybe some that just started. So making a prediction for this level might just be akin to saying a light bulb that has been on for hours is probably going to feel hot if I touch it. Good assumption but until I actually touch it I just don't know. Same here folks. Until Saturday comes around, we really aren't going to know who has the best morning and is going to run their hearts out to capture the title. But we do know one thing. This is a good start to seeing who just might be the next up and comer as they gain some racing experience and keep moving up in their training. A big race for some young athletes! Can't wait!!
See you on the track… and the grass!
Coach Ted