Division I Class AAA Girls
Stegall Stabilizes
After an up and down season for the sophomore from Nolensville, Claire Stegall was able to capture her first Cross Country state title during the final girls race of the championship. She traversed the first loop at a modest pace unlike she had done the week prior and was able to separate herself from the field by 48 seconds when she crossed finish line. When we caught up with her after she was relieve but also concerned as she had just watched another runner from Williamson County struggle to finish as she had the week prior.
It will be interesting to see how Stegall fares in the post-season and how she handles being in a field of elite racers. In the four races where she hasn't had an episode finishing, she's been clear of the field by thirty seconds or more by the finish. Immediately behind Stegall were a couple of familiar opponents. Larkin Johnson and Rachel Haws swapped finishing positions from the week prior at region with Johnson narrowly edging Haws by one second for the runner up finish.
In total, six runners from Region 6 would occupy spots in the top ten represented by four different schools in Williamson County.
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Name Year School Finals Points
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1 #801 Stegall, Claire 10 Nolensville 17:52.04 1
2 #593 Johnson, Larkin 9 Centennial 18:40.47
3 #581 Haws, Rachel 10 Brentwood 18:41.28 2
4 #772 Kramer, Hannah 10 Karns 18:50.76
5 #580 Cromwell, Lydia 10 Brentwood 18:56.29 3
6 #811 Job, Dylan 9 Oak Ridge 19:03.44 4
7 #887 Balturshot, Brynn 9 Station Camp 19:05.23
8 #832 Rayl, Jordan 12 Ravenwood 19:05.74
9 #648 Wingfield, Kamryn 12 Daniel Boone 19:08.09 5
10 #578 Banovac, Lauren 9 Brentwood 19:08.94 6 Had Jaynie Halterman not had a late season injury, you would likely have had five different schools represented in the Top 10. Quite feat for one county.
Brentwood, Brentwood, Brentwood
The infrastructure of the Brentwood High School Girl's program was discussed in the preview but it's worth reiterating now after the team claimed their 3rd championship in as many years. Two of the Bruins reliable top five scorers from last year did not score this year at state but the team was able to post the lowest point total of their three championships on top of widening their margin of victory.
Year | Points | Margin Of Victory |
| 2020 | 101 | 11 |
| 2021 | 75 | 21 |
| 2022 | 41 | 50 |
Of scoring runners, Brentwood will lose one, Lola Baker, to graduation which is actually the most any team in the top six will graduate heading into next season. As stated in the preview, I felt like Beech would race Houston closer than their projection which turned out to be more than true. The Buccaneers grabbed runner up with PR effort by Olivia Gould and a supporting cast from two to five that came in within a minute of each other. Memphis area teams Houston and Collierville grabbed the next two spots with East Tennessee teams, Farragut and Dobyns-Bennett, the next two. Of these six teams a total of five runners will not be returning in 2023. The continuity of this classification heading into next season will be interesting to monitor.
Congratulations to Claire Stegall and the Brentwood Girls on their victories.