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…]

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

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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

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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

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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…]

Cross country: Oak Ridge girls run well, finish third in first meet of year

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The Oak Ridge girls cross country team finished third in the A.F. Bridges Cross Country Invitational in Nashville on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016. From left are Ruthie Froning, Eden Gee, Maddie Zawisza, Genevieve Schwartz, Jessie Strader, Robyn Wood, and Bailey Baldwin. (Photo courtesy Allen Etheridge)

 

The Oak Ridge girls cross country team finished third in its first meet of the year, and Coach Allen Etheridge said the girls ran well.

Oak Ridge junior Genevieve Schwartz finished seventh in the girls 5k (5,000-meter) run with a time of 21:31.13.

The A.F. Bridges Cross Country Invitational was in Nashville on Saturday. The Oak Ridge boys finished first. [Read more…]

Wildcats opened track, field season at Hardin Valley

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Boys 400-meter (Photo by Luther Simmons)

Boys 400-meter dash (Photo by Luther Simmons)

 

HARDIN VALLEY—The Oak Ridge Wildcats opened their track and field season at Hardin Valley on Saturday, March 26.

The boys and girls teams finished about in the middle of the pack, Wildcats Coach Allen Etheridge said. The girls team was 11th out of 29 teams, and the boys were 18th in a field of 27.

But the teams didn’t set up to “score a ton of points,” Etheridge said.

The Wildcats were missing a few athletes, and with many new students on the team, they were trying new athletes in a few events and experimenting with different combinations.

“I saw a lot to be happy about,” Etheridge said. The teams have potential to be really good, Etheridge said.

The season opener was the Hardin Valley Academy Invitational. It featured 39 teams and 896 athletes.

Here are top 10 finishes for Oak Ridge girls: [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…]

Boys, girls cross country teams run tough at state championship

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Wildcats Gashaw Duhamel 2014 State Cross Country Meet

Junior Gashaw Duhamel of Oak Ridge finished 11th in the 2014 TSSAA Class AAA State Boys’ Cross Country Championship in Nashville on Saturday. (Photos by Kindell Moore) 

 

The Oak Ridge High School boys’ and girls’ cross country teams, both coming off fantastic first-place finishes at regionals in late October, competed in the state championship 5k run in Nashville on Saturday. The boys’ team finished third, and the girls finished ninth.

Girls Team

The girls ran better than their ninth-place finish suggests. Freshman Katharina Gallmeier led the way in running for the Lady Wildcats with a 46th place finish at 20:30:95, followed shortly by senior Aislyn Peacock. Peacock ran a 20:37:41 and finished 49th.

Following closely behind these two was junior Megan Peters, who finished 57th with a time of 20:49:08. Freshman Robyn Wood finished 70th with a 21:05:81, and sophomore Maddie Zawisza finished 72nd with a 21:10:75. Freshman Esther Gallmeier finished 98th with a 21:42:37, and junior Mallika Vohra rounded out the team with a 22:04:80 finish at 109th. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge boys, girls cross country sweep region, prepare for state

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Oak Ridge Boys Cross Country 2014 Region 2-AAA Champions

The Oak Ridge boys cross country team won the regional championship during a Region 2-AAA meet at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on Thursday. (Photos by Nichole Zawisza)

 

KNOXVILLE—For the first time since 2008, the Oak Ridge boys and girls cross country teams swept the regional championships, and the two high school teams will compete in the state meet in Nashville next Saturday.

Boys Team

The Wildcats saw some stiff competition at the Region 2-AAA meet at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on Thursday, but the Oak Ridge boys’ team had no trouble collectively running past all challengers in the 5,000 meter run. Although Dartanian Oakley of Hardin Valley took home first place, three Oak Ridge runners followed right behind him. Gashaw Duhamel finished second with a time of 16:22:08, Wesley Robinson finished third with a time of 16:25:57, and Tyler Boullie finished fourth with a time 16:32:36. Both Duhamel’s and Robinson’s finishes met the national silver standard, which is finishing a race before the 16:30:00 mark.

The rest of the Oak Ridge boys’ team finished strongly as well. Jacob Etheridge finished seventh with a time of 16:52:39. Shortly behind him were Daniel Beckett running at 16:54:74 to finish 10th and Thomas Colburn running 16:57:14 to finish 11th. Rounding out the seven runners for Oak Ridge was Jose Villegas, who finished 17th with a time of 17:13:91. [Read more…]

Wildcats cross country: Great result in only second race

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Oak Ridge Wildcats Boys Varsity at McCallie Invitational

The Oak Ridge Wildcats boys varsity team is pictured above in September at the McCallie Invitational in Chattanooga. (File photos/Photos by Nichole Zawiswa)

 

CARY, N.C.—The Great American Cross Country Festival is the largest and most competitive cross country meet in the Southeast. This year’s event included US #2 LaSalle, Rhode Island, as well as most of the top 15 teams in the Southeastern United States. The top event is the Race of Champions, and the meet includes several other varsity and junior varsity events.

The Oak Ridge girls were in the Seeded Invitational, while the boys got a last-minute invitation to the top-level Race of Champions. The Cross Country festival was in Cary, North Carolina, this past weekend.

The Wildcats’ best result of the day came in the ROC, where the boys finished 11th of 21 really competitive teams. LaSalle won with 132 points. Daniel Boone (Tennessee) was third with 144 and Brentwood (Tennessee) fifth with 216. Oak Ridge scored 291. The Wildcats set a school record for fastest team average on a 5K course at 16:18.

“Great result for us in only our second race of the season,” Oak Ridge cross country coach Allen Etheridge said. “Most of these teams have run between five to eight races this season and are race sharp already. That’s going to take us a few more races, which is fine. We ran well today and lined up well with our Tennessee competition.” [Read more…]