Halterman Closes Strong
Independence's Jaynie Halterman was the last girl to grab a qualifying spot at the South Regional but on Saturday in San Diego, not only managed to be the fourth runner to cross the finish line from the region, but placed 7th overall. Halterman would cross half-mile mark in 16th place and would only improve from there. Through the subsequent live results readers which were placed every half mile, she would work her way up gradually going to 14th, 13th, 12th, 11th, 8th and then finally 7th crossing in 17:43. With this result, Independence becomes the second school in Tennessee History with two Top Ten Finishers at Foot Locker on the Girl's side. The first was Knoxville Catholic who did so in back to back years with Megan Ferowich in 2009 and Joanna Thompson in 2020.
Fellow statesmen, Webb School of Bell Buckle's Abby Faith Cheeseman, who placed 4th here last year, would find herself in the same position with a mile to go. Eventually, she would fall to 7th by the three mile mark where her and Halterman would cross together. Cheeseman would lose a little momentum over the final stretch and eventually finishing 13th in 17:56.
This is her third trip to Balboa Park where she's finished 31st, 4th, and now 13th.
Tennessee's third qualifier, Nolensville's Claire Stegall, found herself mid-pack after the first half of the race but unfortunately fell and eventually did not finish. However, she was hopeful the day before after missing the south qualifier the year prior due to illness.
The South Girls scored a combined 22 points gapping the runner-up Midwest squad by 26 points.
Eckerman Goes Out Aggressively
Webb School of Knoxville's Colin Eckerman was racing for the 4th week in a row and showed no signs of fatigue early. The future Paladin led the first mile of the boys race before sliding back to eight by the halfway point. By two miles he was in 10th and would ultimately hold serve through the finish when he crossed the line in 15:35 securing a 12th place finish and the final scoring runner for the South. This would prove vital as the South and Northeast would both have 38 points ultimately being decided by a tiebreaker where the South Region would prevail 15 to 27.
Congratulations to all of these runners and their achievements.