Middle TN State XC: Top Teams and Runners

Top Teams:

Brentwood Academy Boys and Girls:


When your program occupies seven of the top eight places (1-4 for boys and 1,2,4 for girls) it goes without saying your programs also have some of the top athletes as well. Seniors Matthew Porter, Matthew McMillan, and George Payne lead the way while sophomore Cayden Durrough rounded out the top 4. The Eagles were two points and two seconds from a perfect score of 15. They bested second place McCallie by a 40-point margin. They'll have a tall task ahead of them heading into next season as they graduate four of their top five while McCallie's squad loses no one to graduation.

After a six-point loss the season before, the Brentwood Academy Girl's and Senior Coco Holliday bounced back from an up and down junior season to lead her team to victory over Harpeth Hall. Coco finished first while Juniors Kylie Wittman and Whitney Powell finished 2nd and 4th respectively. Coach Parkey reflected on the victory after the meet:

Siegel High School Boys:

Siegel defended their Division I Large School State Title by widening their margin of victory over the next best team from 56 points in 2017 to 72 points in 2018 and cemented themselves as the class of the classification. The squad, led by Junior Canaan Anderson who finished 10th overall, more importantly put four in the top 15 of "scoring runners." With no one graduating, I don't see them relinquishing the crown for at least one more year.

Other Top Teams:

University School of Nashville Boys: Placed 2nd in Division II Small by a narrow 7 points. I expect they and CCS to battle again next season for the State Title.

Brentwood High School Girls: Placed 3rd in Division I Large. They were the favorites going in but their typical spread of about a minute 1 to 5 elongated to nearly two on Saturday. I expect them to bounce back if not this year during championship racing by next year as no runners will be lost to graduation.

Merrol Hyde Girls: Placed 3rd in Division I Small. Will have a lot of work to do before next season to replace the point spread lost by the graduation of top runner Kaelyn Meier.

Harpeth Hall: Placed 2nd in Division II Large. Only had a 45 second spread 1-5 which was one of the best on the day but with three of those finishers departing this season some underclassmen will have to step up if they're going to challenge BA for the title in the division next year.

Central Magnet Boys: Placed 3rd in Division I Large. With an enrollment of only 821, this may be the most impressive finish of the day. They are hardly a "large" school and last season looked to be racing out of their league finishing 13th. Whether or not you believe they should be racing against the likes of Siegel (1789 enrollment) and Bartlett (2722 enrollment), after a year of adjusting to the level of competition they showed they belonged in the race this season.