As always, and for twenty-one years, Coach Hoffman, Christian Brothers University, and the talented crew of dedicated volunteers at this meet produce another successful evening of cross country.

On the boys' varsity high school side, the Missouri team of Rock Bridge was impossible to beat. We knew that from the start, but it's still surprising to see such a dominating win.  All their athletes came in the top 21. Leading off that team was Luke Sievers with a very quick 15:41.87. Last year, Luke was one of the younger athletes on this team but still came in 7^th overall. Improving his performance by around 21 seconds is a heck of a way to start off your junior season. Mathew Kim (16:15) and Cook Hudson (16:23) were two other Rock Bridge teammates making it into the top ten overall last night. Ethan Hockman (16:37) and Samuel Shatto (16:52) made up the final scoring group for this team. Ninety two points ahead of the second place team is quite a statement for this power house team.

Clark Wade was the first Memphis area guy to make it over the finish line. The Arlington junior clearly came into this race with a plan as he improved his place from last year by 31 spots and about 43 seconds. Ty Durst of Collierville was the second local to cross the line and he also improved his time by over half a minute from last year. That's a good way to start off the season.

With this meet being a highly attractive destination for several out of state athletes, there's always this unofficial competition for which Tennessee athletes will cross the finish first. The trophy (um... no, there isn't a trophy) goes to Franklin's Nilsen Hurst who clocked a 16:08.12. Nilsen hasn't run this meet before but made sure it was worth the trip with his 3^rd place finish and a new 5K PR. If you watched this race, you knew how tough it was to get into that top 3 spot with how close these runners were throughout the course.

The girls Varsity race started out looking like there was going to be a Texas rush on the course. Fortunately for the other girls looking at the team race, the South Texas Heat team ran only four girls. Had they run another, the standings would have changed. Elin Latta and Iris Latta ran one and two respectively. Elin clocked a 17:58 and Iris ran to 18:11. I hope next season their fifth can join as it was a joy to watch these talented girls compete.

However, just around the corner was Collierville's Scarlet Nash running a 19:24 that put her in 6^th overall. That time was over a minute improvement from last season at this race and moved her up 21 spots. That was the start for this Collierville squad though. Just behind her was Gabrielle Gulstrom (19:44), Ava Lang (20:05), Addie Bogda (21:06), and Maggie Webber (21:12). That made up their top five that earned them 73 points and edged their way to the top over West Plains by a mere six points.

Collierville's top five went 2, 5, 9, 28 and 29^th places and still had another two in the top 40. West Plains took 7, 8, 10, 11 and 43^rd spots. Just goes to show that every second counts in the cross-country world! The Rock Bridge team was third with 99 points. To say the least, Collierville really had to earn this win, and they certainly did it in a big way!!

Scarlett ended up with the TN trophy (um... I know, there isn't a trophy... it's a virtual one, ha!!). But Bartlett's Kaley Byrd was pushing her the whole way and ended up as the second fastest TN athlete here with her 19:29 post. Kaley beat her time from last year and that was just a second off her career best. She's starting out the year strong and who knows, maybe she can drop a few more seconds off that 2K steeplechase time in the spring!!

In the top 20 of these varsity girls, six of them were from Tennessee. Collierville had three (we've mentioned them), Houston two (Nora Newhouse - 20:15.47 and Martha Kate Jessop - 20:15.49) and Bartlett's Byrd. For twenty-one years this race has brought in the best athletes and brought out the best performances over these years... just a great race to enjoy.

And lastly, I'd like to mention the middle school races for a bit. There's a little bit of travel among the middle school teams, but mostly from nearby schools and not like the high school level. The boys middle school team competition had similarities to the high school scores. Houston took on the pack and scored a very low 26 points that was 70 points ahead of the second-place team of University Middle (96 points).

Houston's William Pressler won the 2K race in 6:08.18 and Luke Lee (Christ Covenant School) was runner up with 6:22.71. The bronze spot went to Barrett Waddell, another one of these strong Houston athletes.

If you've kept up with the Memphis Youth Athletics (MYA) cross country and other races in the area, then it's of no surprise that Maya Lang won the race. This West Collierville middle athlete ran a 6:41.99 that was ahead of another very strong runner in Hudson McDaniel (6:53.18, Dresden Middle). Maya kept the lead throughout the whole race, but Hudson made her honest by staying pretty close most of the distance. Another familiar name in the area, Houston's Chloe Tankersley was the third-place finisher in 7:09.59.

Watching these middle school athletes compete certainly makes it clear that we will be seeing some really talented athletes as they grow into the sport!

The Memphis area is becoming more known for the high-quality world-class cross-country events we see each year. This Twilight always kicks off the season here and sets a high standard. Coming up next will be the Memphis Youth Athletics series for the Elementary, Middle and High School athletes. Then the Frank Horton, a multi-evening event that basically is a family friendly party with competitive races built into the fun! There's plenty of running to see in the area, so we hope to see you all out there this season!

See you on the track and the grass,

Coach Ted