Grace Carlson and Simon Holden ran Saturday at the PowerAde Invitational at Moccasin Bend like people were chasing them. And the two Baylor School standouts couldn't be caught -- at least in time.
Baylor's girls also earned a team victory and Baylor's boys were second to Dobyns-Bennett in the meet hosted by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The Lady Red Raiders had three top-10 finishes even without Ruthie Townsend, who was taking the ACT, and Haley Chandler, who dropped out during the race.
Chandler led at the one-mile mark, but freshman Carlson was able to overtake her in the second mile. From that point on, she was in control and ran to a 42-second win over Dobyns-Bennett's Alex Zimmerman. Carlson completed the five-kilometer event in 20 minutes, 17.14 seconds.
Northwest Whitfield's Shelby Wilson was third in 21:04.89, and GPS's Lucy Whitfield was fifth in 21:09.06.
"My goal coming in was to have fun," Carlson said. "Coach [Heather Ott] told us to have fun and see what happens. I spent a lot of time running alone, and that's hard. It's much easier running with people because you have someone to talk to. I sometimes talk to myself, just to encourage."
Holden won in 16:12.69, defeating Bradley Central's Harold Smith by almost eight seconds. Holden was able to pull away in the final stretch but was disappointed he couldn't match his time of 16:04 in last year's meet.
Northwest Whitfield's Brody Cook finished fifth at 17:22.93.
"I really wanted to break 16 minutes, but I'm OK with the win. I thought I ran well," Holden said. "I had a good rhythm; I just wish I had hit my sprint a little sooner."
Smith shaved 12 seconds off his 2011 time at the PowerAde.
"I wanted to go out strong and end strong," he said. "I like running against Simon; he's a good competitor and has good sportsmanship.
"Running against him gives me a good challenge to compete against."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6311. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.