Oak Ridge Today

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

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

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…]

Oak Ridge girls’ team runs best race of year, but finishes fourth in region; Schwartz going to state

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

class-aaa-girls-cross-country-meet-region-2-schwartz-wall-oct-27-2016-web

Genevieve Schwartz of Oak Ridge, right, finished 10th in the Region 2-AAA girls’ cross country race at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016. Behind Schwartz is Jenna Wall of Hardin Valley Academy, who finished eighth. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

KNOXVILLE—The Oak Ridge girls’ cross country team ran its best race of the year but finished fourth in the region on Thursday, just missing the cutoff to advance to the state meet next Saturday.

Only the top three teams in the Region 2-AAA meet at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on Thursday advanced to the state meet in Nashville next Saturday.

However, Oak Ridge junior Genevieve Schwartz finished 10th in the 5,000-meter, or 5k, race. Anyone who finishes in the top 10 and is not on a qualifying team advances to state.

The top three girls’ teams in the Region 2 meet were West, Farragut, and Hardin Valley. West, a Knoxville school, had the top two runners, Lindsey Stallworth and Madeline Shook.

Anderson County and Hardin Valley each had two runners in the top 10, and like Oak Ridge, Farragut had one.

It will be the first trip to state for Schwartz, who finished with a time of 20:36.90. [Read more…]

Cross country photos: Oak Ridge girls finish fourth in Region 2-AAA meet

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

class-aaa-girls-cross-country-region-2-meet-wall-schwartz-longmire-oct-27-2016-web

Genevieve Schwartz of Oak Ridge, at right in the group of three above, finished 10th in the Region 2-AAA girls’ cross country race at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016. At center is Mollie Longmire of Anderson County, who finished seventh, and at left is Jenna Wall of Hardin Valley Academy, who finished eighth. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

KNOXVILLE—The Oak Ridge Wildcats girls’ cross country team finished fourth in the Region 2-AAA meet at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on Thursday.

The top three teams in the regional meet advance to the state cross county meet in Nashville on Saturday, November 5. Since Oak Ridge finished fourth, it does not advance.

But Genevieve Schwartz of Oak Ridge finished in the top 10, so she will compete in the state meet next week.

Here are photos from the Thursday meet by John Huotari of Oak Ridge Today. (See a story on the race here.) [Read more…]

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

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

oak-ridge-cross-country-boys-oct-8-2016

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…]

JMS cross country teams sweep city championships

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

2014 JMS Boys Cross Country Team

The 2014 Jefferson Middle Schools boys cross country team is pictured above. The JMS boys and girls cross country teams were city champions this year. (Submitted photos)

 

Jordan Van Druff

Jordan Van Druff of Jefferson Middle School, the boys city champion. Van Druff was undefeated in all of Jefferson’s regular season races during his three-year career.

By Steve Reddick

Both Oak Ridge middle school cross country teams wrapped up their seasons at the City Championship meet held Tuesday, September 29, on the Jefferson Middle School campus.

Battling hard against determined Ram and Lady Ram teams, the JMS Eagle and Lady Eagle cross country teams emerged as City Champions in the meet.

Led by standout runner Jordan Van Druff, the Eagles captured 18 of the first 20 places in the boys race, including the top five positions, to finish the race with a perfect score of 15 points.

Robertsville Middle School’s top runner, seventh-grader Christopher Van Hook, placed sixth overall. [Read more…]