Meet in the Middle
The most surprising result of the week came before the weekend. On Thursday Abby Faith Cheeseman ran a then US #1 (now US #2 at time of drafting) 17:16 on her home course in Bell Buckle Tennessee.
Now I saw this meet on the calendar and thought "Ok she's probably just going to knock off some rust and I've already seen Brentwood Academy and I'll see McCallie and Baylor later this season so I'll stay home." That a mistake obviously. I reached out to her mom/coach to just get posthumously get some insight of what the plan was.
Ideal conditions, good course & good footing, home course, and teammates made it all fun: )
I knew she was ready to roll, but I did not expect that degree of rolling: )"
- Catherine Cheeseman
This reminds me of the
Large Division I Section 3 meet in Clarksville a few years back. Earlier in the
season Silas Winders went to Eastern Relays to try to break 9:00. It was a
downpour the entire race and no one in the field ran what they were hoping. His
dad told me prior to the gun at Sectionals, "If that flag dies down, you might
see something special." Silas ran 8:58 that day eclipsing nine as he wanted to
prior in the season. Sometimes you race for place and others you race for time.
We've had a couple of good weeks of favorable weather and runners are taking
advantage of that.
On the boy's side, the result that stands out is the tie breaker between Baylor and McCallie. Early season predictions are always bound to sneak up on you later in the season which is why I try not to do an article like "5 Bold Predictions for this Cross Country Season" but one that I felt comfortable making was McCallie's seeming stranglehold on the Division II AA. It doesn't seem to be a predetermined conclusion after Thursday. That said, it looks to be an uncharacteristic performance out of Evan Simpson who finished 8th for McCallie when he normally finishes first.