Brooks XC South

Before the season started, I said in this reel that Jazzlyn Garmer, Carolina Areheart, and Calysta Garmer were in their own tier slightly above the rest of the female runners in Tennessee. For most of the season however, that was somewhat inaccurate. While the Garmers were able to solidify themselves early as the definitive top two runners in the state, Carolina struggled to keep pace early. But as stated in the preview for Brooks South, she had consistently closed the gap in the second half of the season. On Saturday, it was fully made up. Calysta, as she has done all season, placed first for the trio from Webb School of Knoxville placing 3rd overall with a 17:05. Jazzlyn, likewise, was slightly behind finishing in 7th just ten seconds back. Unlike the rest of the fall, Carolina finished ahead of one of them finishing in 17:13 to finish 6th punching her ticket to Balboa for the second year in a row. I'm no historian of this series when it was FootLocker but THREE from the same team qualifying? That might be a first. The Spartans will spend a lot of time on the West Coast over the next two weekends as they will race in Portland for NXN next Saturday before these three will race again in San Diego the following weekend and I can't wait to see them, Brentwood, and Andrew Beroset represent the Volunteer State in December.