Oak Ridge Today

Cross country photos: Oak Ridge at Region 2 meet

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Pictured above is Oak Ridge senior Jose Villegas, who finished second in the boys 5,000-meter cross country race in the Region 2 Large Division Championships at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017. (Photo by Maddie Zawisza)

Pictured above is Oak Ridge senior Jose Villegas, who finished second in the boys 5,000-meter cross country race in the Region 2 Large Division Championships at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017. (Photo by Maddie Zawisza)

 

The Oak Ridge boys and girls cross country teams have both qualified for the state meet in Nashville on Saturday, and the Wildcats had one runner finish second in the region and another finish fourth on Thursday. It’s the first time since 2014 that both teams are going to state together.

Here are photos from the regional meet on Thursday by Wallace Bowden and Maddie Zawisza along with Oak Ridge Today file photos. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge boys, girls cross country teams both going to state meet

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The Oak Ridge boys and girls cross country teams have both qualified for the state meet in Nashville next Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, finishing third in the Region 2 Large Division Championships at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on Thursday, Oct. 26.

The Oak Ridge boys and girls cross country teams have both qualified for the state meet in Nashville next Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, finishing third in the Region 2 Large Division Championships at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on Thursday, Oct. 26.

 

The Oak Ridge boys and girls cross country teams have both qualified for the state meet in Nashville on Saturday, and the Wildcats had one runner finish second in the region and another finish fourth on Thursday.

It’s the first time since 2014 that both teams are going to state together.

Both teams finished third in the Region 2 Championships for the Division I Large Division at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on Thursday. The top three teams in the regional meets advanced to the state cross country meet at Percy Warner Park in Nashville on Saturday, November 4.

Oak Ridge senior Jose Villegas finished second in the region in the boys 5,000-meter run at Victor Ashe Park on Thursday, and senior Genevieve Schwartz finished fourth in the girls race.

“You always want to get at least one team to state, but ultimately, you want to get both,” Wildcats Coach Ed Wright said after the Region 2 Championships. “Today was a good day.” [Read more…]

Here’s a recap of the season for the ORHS Swim Team

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The Oak Ridge High School Wildcat state team qualifiers and coaches David Vander Sluis, far left, and Alicia Williamson, back right. (Photo courtesy Erik Groscost)

Pictured above are the Oak Ridge High School Wildcat state team qualifiers and coaches David Vander Sluis, far left, and Alicia Williamson, back right. (Photo courtesy Erik Groscost)

 

By Erik Groscost

The Oak Ridge High School Wildcat Swim Team dual meet record for the 2016-2017 swim season was 4 wins, 0 losses. We were undefeated for the second year in a row! The wins were over Farragut, Berean Christian, Knoxville Catholic, and Clinton/Anderson County high schools.

Our meet against Maryville was canceled due to the heater breaking at the Oak Ridge Civic Center pool in late December. Three weeks of key training were disrupted for both year round and high school swimmers. We found ways around that nuisance and our swimmers still had very good championship meet performances.

Our two big end-of-season championship meets: [Read more…]

Photos: Oak Ridge boys win third place in state cross country meet

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Oak Ridge senior Jake Etheridge led the Wildcats, finishing 11th in the Class AAA boys’ cross country meet at Percy Warner Park in Nashville on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Led by senior Jake Etheridge, the Oak Ridge Wildcats finished third in the state boys’ cross country meet on Saturday. Etheridge, a senior, was the 11th-place runner.

Here are pictures from the meet, which was at Percy Warner Park in Nashville. [Read more…]

Led by Etheridge, Wildcats finish third in state cross country meet

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Led by senior Jake Etheridge, third from right, the 11th-place individual runner, the Oak Ridge Wildcats finished third in the state boys’ cross country meet in Nashville on Saturday. Pictured from left are Christian Borden, Reid Dukes, Jose Villegas, Will Jeter, Etheridge, Daeton Byars, and Dalton Morgan. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

NASHVILLE—Led by senior Jake Etheridge, the Oak Ridge Wildcats finished third in the state boys’ cross country meet on Saturday.

Etheridge finished 11th among the 181 top male runners from across Tennessee in the large Class AAA high schools. His time was 16:18.72.

The other top four runners among the seven Wildcats who competed were:

  • sophomore Dalton Morgan at 26th with a time of 16:50.17,
  • junior Jose Villegas at 34th with a time of 17:00.59,
  • junior Reid Dukes at 38th at 17:02.56, and
  • senior Will Jeter at 59th at 17:13.72.

The scores of the top five runners on each team are included in the team score. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge boys, Etheridge are Region 2 champs, headed to state cross country meet

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Oak Ridge senior Jake Etheridge finished first in the boys’ race in the Region 2-AAA cross country meet at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

KNOXVILLE—Oak Ridge senior Jake Etheridge and the boys’ cross country team finished first in the Region 2-AAA meet in Knoxville on Thursday, and they will race in the state meet next Saturday.

It’s the third regional championship in a row for the boys’ team. It’s the second year in a row for Oak Ridge to have the top male racer. Gashaw Duhamel, who ran for Oak Ridge as a senior last year, was the top runner last year.

The boys’ cross country team finished as state runner-up in 2015. Brentwood, a Nashville area school, was state champion with two of the three top runners (one a sophomore and one a junior), and that team is considered a favorite again this year. Other top teams this year include Daniel Boone of upper East Tennessee, which has been a strong team, and Wilson Central of Nashville.

Etheridge led the entire 5,000-meter, or 5k, run during the Region 2-AAA meet at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on Thursday.

“I got out hard, and I kept going,” said Etheridge, who finished with a time of 16:27.87. That was about 13 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Seth Bowden of Maryville High School. [Read more…]

Cross country photos: Oak Ridge boys win Region 2-AAA championship

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Oak Ridge senior Jake Etheridge finished first in the boys’ race in the Region 2-AAA cross country meet at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

KNOXVILLE—The Oak Ridge Wildcats boys’ cross country team finished first in the Region 2-AAA meet at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on Thursday. It was the third year in a row that the boys have won the regional championship.

The boys will race in the state cross country meet in Nashville on Saturday, November 5.

Oak Ridge senior Jake Etheridge finished first in the regional meet on Thursday. Sophomore Dalton Morgan was fourth. Daeton Byars was eighth, Reid Dukes was 10th, Will Jeter was 15th, Christian Borden was 21st, and Jose Villegas was 29th.

Here are photos from the Thursday meet by John Huotari of Oak Ridge Today.

[Read more…]

Cross country: Oak Ridge boys, girls finish first in Cherokee Invitational

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The Oak Ridge Wildcats boys’ cross country team finished first in the Cherokee Invitational in Knoxville on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. (Photo by Nichole Zawisza)

 

The Oak Ridge boys’ and girls’ cross country teams finished first in the Cherokee Invitational in Knoxville on Saturday. Senior Jake Etheridge was the top overall runner in the boys’ 5k, or 5,000-meter race. Junior Genevieve Schwartz finished second overall in the girls’ race, and senior Abbey Greenhalgh was third.

The Oak Ridge boys had seven of the top 14 runners, and the girls had six of the top 13.

The first-place finish for the boys on Saturday came one week after they finished first in the Wendy’s Invitational in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Etheridge was also the top overall runner.

Oak Ridge Coach Allen Etheridge said Saturday’s race on Cherokee Boulevard in Knoxville is a hard race that was run during Fall Break, when the team is out of the normal school rhythm. The team has to run to “get its work in,” but is never “super satisfied,” Etheridge said. [Read more…]

Cross country: Oak Ridge boys finish second, Etheridge third

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Oak Ridge Jake Etheridge State Cross Country Nov. 7, 2015

Oak Ridge senior Jake Etheridge, left, who is shown above running in the state Class AAA cross country meet in Nashville on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015, finished third in the Cherokee Classic in Knoxville on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 8:15 p.m.

The Oak Ridge boys cross country team finished second in a meet in Knoxville on Saturday, and senior Jake Etheridge finished third.

The Oak Ridge girls finished 10th.

The boys, competing against 35 other teams, were running shorthanded because Daeton Byars, the team’s number three, didn’t run, and Jose Villegas ran it as a workout rather than as a race, Oak Ridge Coach Allen Etheridge said.

“He’s just getting his legs back under him,” Etheridge said of Villegas.

Finishing in first place at the Cherokee Classic in Knoxville was Daniel Boone High School with 61 points. Oak Ridge was second with 83 points.

Behind them were Maryville (128 points), Knoxville Catholic (146), and Farragut (160). [Read more…]

ORHS boys cross country wins McCallie Invitational in Chattanooga

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ORHS Boys Cross Country Team at McCallie Invitational on Sept. 26, 2015

The Oak Ridge High School boys cross country team finished first at the McCallie Invitational in Chattanooga on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015. (Photo courtesy Steven D. Martin)

 

The Oak Ridge High School boys cross country team finished first at the McCallie Cross Country Invitational in Chattanooga on Saturday.

The Wildcats also had three of the top five male runners in the 5,000-meter run, or 5k.

Senior Mitchell Poynter of Tippecanoe was the top individual male runner, finishing the 5k in 15:43.57.

Senior Tyler Boullie of ORHS was 14 seconds behind him in second place, finishing the race in 15:57.96.

Boullie was followed by junior Jacob Etheridge of ORHS at 16:22.88. [Read more…]

Atomic City swimmers have impressive performances at Lois Weir Invitational

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Lois Weir 2014

Pictured from left to right are trophy winners Mason Fischer (10, first place), Madeline Linkous (10, second place), Daniel Arnold (10, first place), Thias Brown (10, second place), and Abigail King (10, third place).

 

After a dreary week, the sun shined on the Atomic City Aquatic Club at its annual Lois Weir Invitational in Oak Ridge.

“This was the largest meet we have hosted in quite a few years, and with the help of the volunteer efforts of our parents we pulled it off without a hitch,” said Coach Mike Bowman. “It was a fantastic meet on a nice weekend.”

The swimmers were impressive as well. In the 8-and-under age group,  Steven Zhukov (8), second overall, won three events, placed second in five more, and took third twice. Elijah Linkous (7) had nine top 6 finishes and brought home a third-place trophy. Trinity Byars (7) and Monica White (7) had outstanding debut home meets for the girls.

Daniel Arnold (10) took home the 10-and-under boys all-around trophy with 10 victories and two other top 3 finishes. Thias Brown (10) challenged Arnold with four second-place finishes and five other top 5 placements en route to second. Egan Rawn (10) finished in the top 7 eight times, and Loy Creed (10) and Dylan Arnold (10) also scored points for the team. [Read more…]

ORCA wraps up summer swim season in style

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Oak Ridge City Aquatic Swim Team

ORCA’s 11-12 Boy’s Medley Relay Team, which placed fifth overall with a time of 2:15.53 at the annual GKAISA City Meet Knoxville 2014. Pictured left to right are Harrison Whitson, Jake Cheney, Vidar Hondorf, and Ethan Chou. (Submitted photo)

By Erik Groscost

The Oak Ridge City Aquatic summer league swim team finished its 2014 campaign on July 27 with a two-win, two-loss dual meet record and many smiling faces at the conclusion of City Meet. Wins over Beaver Brook Country Club and University Swim Club balanced losses to a very strong Northside YMCA team and Cherokee Country Club over the course of the Greater Knoxville Area Intersquad Swim Association (GKAISA) summer league season, which runs annually from early June through the end of July.

Two thousand and three hundred swimmers representing 33 summer league teams converged on the Allan Jones Aquatic Center on campus at the University of Tennessee from July 25-27. By the end of Sunday’s Finals, close to 10,000 races had been entered into the books. It is one of the largest swim meets held annually in the United States.

Eighteen ORCA swimmers—along with coaches Lars Hondorf, Betsy Hondorf, Luke Johnson, and Kathleen O’Neal—competed in Sunday’s finals going stroke for stroke with some of the finest young athletes in the Knoxville area. Top ORCA point scorers included: [Read more…]