Weekend Rewind: TN Athletes Hit the Road

There was a lot of fast competition across the Southeast over the weekend.

And many of those meets featured runners from the state of Tennessee.

But first, let's start inside the state borders.

In Knoxville, the KIL Championship provided the first championship meet for athletes in Knox County. And on the flat Cherokee Boulevard course.

Knoxville Catholic came away with the team title, but once again it was Carter Coughlin taking the individual championship.

Coughlin broke 15 minutes for the first time, navigating the course in 14:57. The senior from Webb finished first for the fourth time this season. His only runner up finish this season came to Jake Renfree at Cherokee Farms. 

Renfree was second at KIL, running 15:28. He was twelve seconds ahead of Devin Sullivan, who continues to work his way up to the senior Renfree. With that 1-2 punch getting faster and also closer together, it makes Catholic a real power moving forward.

The Fighting Irish finished with 45 points, averaging 16:13. That's thirty seconds than what last year's team ran at this meet. And that included Georde Goodwyn, now at the University of Tennessee, who finished second a year ago.

That's a major progression for a young Knoxville Catholic team. I expect them to make some major noise in November in Nashville.

Story Wins Again

CAK's Rebecca Story was back on the course Saturday, finishing first once again at the Wendy's Invite. 

Story wasn't just the only runner under 17:30. She was the only girl to finish under 18 minutes, taking the championship in 17:23.

That's only her second race of the season after opening up with a win at the Cherokee Farms Invitational. She's been able to manage the opening of the season well, saving energy for bigger national competitions later on in the year. 

But her top challenger in Tennessee also laid down a nice time outside the state this weekend. Sophomore Sasha Neglia was sixth at Great American, running 17:48. So far this season, Story and Neglia are the only runners to venture below 18 minutes.

Neglia was able to peak at the right time last season, running her personal best at the state meet. And given the challenges of the Steeplechase course, that's some feat.

She'll have a good chance to break 17:30 for the first time in the coming weeks.

Top Finishers at Jesse Owens

Many of the fastest times run by Tennesseans over the weekend happened down in Decatur, Alabama at the Jesse Owens Classic.