GRAY — The Rogersville City School Lady Warriors placed five runners in the top seven for a near-perfect score of 18 to cruise to the TMSAA Class A Section 1 championship on Tuesday, Sept. 24, at Daniel Boone High School in Gray.
RCS’ Lilla Harrell won the sectional championship with a time of 13:03.40. Teammates Elin Bryan and Kenady Deal finished second and third, respectively, with times of 13:16.00 and 13:48.60, to sweep the individual medals for the Lady Warriors in a storm-shortened awards’ ceremony.
“It feels pretty good,” said Harrell. “We trained all summer and worked really hard to get back (to state).”
The RCS Lady Warriors were the 2022 and 2023 state runners-up. Last October, they finished just seven points behind state champion Lake Road. Harrell became the first female runner for RCS to earn all-state honors with an eighth-place finish in that race.
This year, she and others have their eyes on a greater prize: the team championship. Crucial to that goal are RCS’ other runners, especially those in the four and five slots, and they certainly didn’t disappoint in the sectional meet.
RCS’ Paisley Lawson finished fifth with a time of 14:07.30, and Anna Mae Boyd seventh in 14:21.50 to ensure that RCS would repeat as sectional champions to earn the program’s ninth straight trip to the TMSAA Cross Country State Championships.
“I’m proud of them. They’ve been a really big part of the team. They’ve helped us come a long way. Without them, we wouldn’t be accomplishing the things we have,” said Harrell.
RCS (18) ran away with the sectional team title, outdistancing second-place Ridgeview (85) by 67 points. Newport Grammar (161) finished third to earn the final team spot in the state meet. The top three teams, plus the five best times by individuals not on those teams, qualify for the TMSAA State Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Oct. 5, at Weakley Park in Clarksville.
Surgoinsville’s Gracie Christian earned one of those individual spots, finishing ninth in the section with a time of 14:46.10. Rogersville Middle’s Sarah Ward also made the cut, finishing 12th with a time of 15:08.60. Other individual qualifiers on the girls side included Jonesborough’s Isabella Regalado, Boones Creek’s Sydney Wright and West View’s Lindsey Amburgey.
“Lately, I haven’t really been doing that well. I’ve been in the 15-minute zone, but today I was able to get back into the 14s,” said Christian, who qualified for state for the third straight year. “I’ve been there, so I think all my nerves are gone. I hope I’m able to just run my race without thinking about it too much.”
Another pair of Hawkins County runners kicked it into gear on the final stretch to gain positions and earn individual berths to the TMSAA Class A boys’ meet.
Rogersville Middle’s Travis Wade finished fifth in the 115-runner sectional field with a time of 12:23.80.
“I kicked it in a lot more than I did at regular meets,” said Wade, who ran in state track meet but will be making his first appearance in the state cross country championships.
Surgoinsville’s Brody Case finished sixth in the section with a time of 12:57.90 to advance to the state championships for the first time.
“It’s state. I’ve been wanting it since fifth grade when I started practicing with the track team. That kick was everything I had,” said Case. “It’s just amazing to finally reach my goal and finally be able to go to the state meet I’ve wanted for so long. I really don’t know how to explain it.”
Ridgeview won the boys’ sectional title with 68 points. Unicoi (83) was second and West Greene (141) third. All three teams qualify for the state meet. RMS (212) finished eighth in the 16-team field. Surgoinsville (310) finished 13th.
Unicoi’s McKinley Norris won the individual championship with a time of 11:30.80. Also qualifying for the state meet were University School’s River Smith, Gatlinburg-Pittman’s Stephen Whaley and Jonesborough’s Jett Lester.
Closing the gap
The sectional championship was another dominating performance in a long line of wins for the Lady Warriors, who have won every meet they’ve entered this season.
“It’s been very special, especially because it’s our last season together. I’m really happy we get to go out by going to state again. We’ve won every meet so far, so hopefully we can win (state) and go undefeated,” Boyd said.
RCS is led by its four eighth graders: Harrell, Bryan, Deal and Boyd. But its sixth graders — Lawson, Olivia Sacharnoski and Madeline Webb — have made huge strides and played crucial roles in the team’s success.
“I’m just really proud of our team,” said Bryan. “I feel like Paisley has stepped up majorly for us this year. We really needed a fifth man.”
Their secret? Simply working to close the gaps.
“Yesterday, Mrs. Russell was telling us we need to close the gap and stay as close as a cow tail to each other. We just try to push each other and stay with each other,” Bryan explained.
“(Mrs. Russell) wants us to stick together because that’s how we’re going to win state. We can’t win it alone,” Harrell added.
Having additional runners, above the five who competed last year, has made all the difference.
“Our sixth graders have really stepped up,” Deal said. “This year, we have more runners. Last year, we only had five. So, if one runner doesn’t do good, someone else can step up and fill their spot. It really helps.”
Other local runners
The RCS Lady Warriors placed two other runners in the top 25. Olivia Sacharnoski finished 16th with a time of 15:18.50. Madeline Webb finished 23rd with a time of 15:53.30. The RCS boys’ team also had a top 25 finisher in Carter Taylor, who finished 22nd with at time of 13:57.60. Ryder Emmett (17:06.80) also competed for RCS, which did not have enough runners to compile a team score in the boys’ race.
Also competing for the RMS Lady Warriors were Oliva Mathes (18:50.80), Savannah Shoupe (20:02.40), Abigail Castle (20:48.20), Stephanie Campbell (24:19.10) and Emily Ward (24:24.50). In the boys’ race, the RMS Warriors were represented by Justin Bradley, who finished 33rd with a time of 14:30.30; Owen Harris (15:17.00), Sawyer Harris (15:35.10), Alex Goins (16:23.70), Lincoln Harris (17:00.30) and Austin Shoupe (17:25.10).
Also competing for Surgoinsville’s Lady Eagles were Andi Dillard (17:53.90), Haven Barnett (18:25.50), Cherith Greene (18:32.70), Rilee Davidson (20:15.20) and Shailynn Goins (23:08.80). Competing for the Eagles in the boys’ race were Levi Barrett (14:52.90), Dakota Buchanan (16:06.60), Alexandro Verdugo-Perez (17:54.60), Chance Chapman (20:50.30) and Skyler Hagen (22:21.00).
The TMSAA Cross Country State Championships will be held Saturday, Oct. 5, at Weakley Park in Clarksville. Spectator admission is $8 per person in advance on GoFan or $10 cash at the gate.
The Class A girls race will begin at 11 a.m. EDT; the Class A boys will follow at 11:40 a.m. EDT. The awards will be distributed at the conclusion of the Class A boys race. The top two teams and top eight finishers in each race will receive awards. The Class AA races, for which there were no Hawkins County qualifiers, will begin at 1 p.m. EDT.
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