Class A Contenders
2007 was the first season Division II broke off into Class AA and Class A divisions. In that span, a runner from the Webb School of Knoxville has won the individual state title seven times, a runner from University School of Nashville has twice, and Columbia Academy's Connor Henson took the top honor the last two seasons for the small of the two divisions. That accounts for 11 of the 15 individual boy's championships awarded since it's inception. Needless to say, there hasn't been much variety in that span of time but with Webb moving up and Henson graduating, the door is open this season for a new champion to emerge this season.
Top Returners
Based on last year's state meet, here are the top returning runners for 2022.Runner | School | Time |
| DCA | 16:11 | |
| USN | 16:27 | |
| GCA - Knoxville | 17:15 | |
| CAK | 17:23 | |
| Harding | 17:27 | |
| Tipton-Rosemark | 17:27 | |
| BGA | 17:29 | |
| USN | 17:33 | |
| SGIS | 17:33 | |
| BGA | 17:45 |
2021 TSSAA State Championship Division II Class A Highlights.
Track Data Points?
You can tell in the race above, Drew Johnson and Austin Cason were not afraid of going out aggressively with Henson and Alexander. The lead pack of five was in tact through the first mile until it dwindled slowly after with Johnson finishing 3rd and Cason finishing 5th. On the surface, this and the rankings above point to a two person race between the two. There's a clear gulf between them and the rest in the top 10. The problem is, we pretty much have no data points for either runner since the state race in November. Johnson suffered a season ending ankle injury in the early part of track season that he has since recovered from. Cason played other spring sports and joined track late. I will be curious to see how each debut this season. While those two may not have the "boost" one would like in the spring to carry them into the fall, no one else in the list above did either. The distance races for this division were dominated by seniors. The top four finishers in the 3200m were seniors. The top five finishers in the 1600m were seniors as well.
This will be an interesting open race to follow this season. Can't wait for the season to start to see if anyone has made a jump into the contender conversation.