Performer of the Week

Every week this season we will be conducting a poll from beginning Monday and ending Thursday to highlight performances from the previous week. This will give us an opportunity to showcase the best talent in Tennessee. Though some athletes will likely run times every week that are worthy of being in the poll, our goal is to cast a wide net and showcase a vast array of athletes from all parts of the state. 

Rylan Selvidge - Blackman

As a freshman, Rylan Selvidge earned a berth to the state championship as an individual and placed outside the top 100 running 17:58. I imagine he was just happy to be there last year. On Saturday, he was likely similarly happy but for different reasons. The Blackman Blaze sophomore improved his time at Sander Ferry by 1:03 and won the Silver Division of the Coleman Midgett Invitational. It was the first time in his career to run under the seventeen minute barrier. 

The Region 4 individual race is shaping up to be one of the more intriguing races to track this season with a lot of new and old talent vying for the title. Selvidge has now inserted himself into that conversation. 

Brody Chapman - Brentwood

I didn't want to use Brody Chapman this early in the season for a poll as the plan is to only use athletes once but he's been running so well it was impossible to ignore. Last week he ran 9:24 on the track. This week ran 15:32 on the course and just looks like a different runner than when I first started covering him a couple of years ago. 

As we wrote about in one of our previews, Chapman is a candidate to run sub-15:00 this season. With what we've seen so far from this senior and multiple trips down to Alabama this season, I feel pretty confident in his ability to do so. 

Chance Underwood - Ooltewah

It's probably a little premature to include Chance Underwood in this poll as well but he didn't only race at Coleman Midgett this weekend. On top of placing 3rd at Sanders Ferry on Saturday with a 15:58 (NEW PR), the senior from Ooltewah won the Chattanooga Area 2 Mile Jamboree on Tuesday with a 10:31. Knocking off some rust then knocking out some bad memories as he elaborates on in this interview is not a bad way to start the season. 

Sam Bridges - Alcoa

Alcoa's Sam Bridges won the Panther Creek Invitational on Tuesday with a time of 17:53. It is not a PR for the junior but Panther Creek isn't that kind of course. To put it in perspective, former teammate, Abdul Jaber, won the meet last year with 17:47. Jaber would go on to win Victor Ashe the following week and eventually place 4th overall in the Class AA/A State Championship. Now that Jaber has graduated, Bridges has stepped in for the Tornadoes as the lead runner and looks to be on track to improve on his 32nd place finish in 2021.