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, 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: 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…]