OR cross country teams By Mike Blackerby editor@oakridgesports.com
Tennessee teams, watch out. Etheridge’s road warriors continued their out-of-state tour Saturday as Oak Ridge competed in the McDonald’s/Maymont Cross Country Festival in Richmond, Va. The monster part comes when the Tennessee state meet rolls around in November. You’ve got to think that the battle-tested Oak Ridge teams will be more than ready to walk the walk by the time they’re finished with their arduous regular season schedule, which features appearances in some of the south’s top meets. “There’s a whole world of excellence out there that we can aspire to -- not just in Tennessee,” said Etheridge. Oak Ridge’s girls, running in the second-tier Gold Division at the Richmond meet, took second in the team race with 138 points. That trailed only winning Shoreham-Wading River High School’s 123 points in the 20- team division. Freshman Autumn Gipson turned a 5k time of 20 minutes and 32 seconds to finish 16th overall and lead the Lady Wildcats. Leslie Jenkins (19th, 20:38) was close behind for OR. “I was glad to see Autumn run the way she did,” said Etheridge. “There was a ton left in Autumn’s tank. She ran great for her first varsity race. Leslie was just great, too. She was outstanding.” Finishing next for Oak Ridge were Allison Miles (20:57) and Whitney Irby (20:59). They took the Nos. 28 and 29 spots, respectively. “The real surprise was Allison Miles. Allison really jumped up there and ran with Whitney. You always know Whitney is gonna be there - she’s kind of a measuring stick for us.” The Lady Wildcats’ other top-seven finishers were: 46. Corinne Lariviere (21:28); 70. Meghan Hughes (21: 59); 113. Melanie Kulesz (23:58). Also for Oak Ridge, Laurel O’Donnell was clocked in 22:58 in the Copper Division race, good for 41st place. Meanwhile, the boys’ race featured 7 of the top 10 teams in the southeast in the Nike preseason poll. Oak Ridge scored 180 points, good for ninth in the 14-team race, but the Wildcats were just 33 points out of third. “If we have a No. five (runner) that runs 20 seconds better, that’s probably 30 (less) points for us,” said Etheridge. Highly touted Chapel Hill (N.C.) won the team race with 110. Jamestown (Va.) had 130 points for second while West Springfield (Va.) was third with 147. West Springfield’s Mike Spooner took medalist honors with a time of 15:38. Places and times for Oak Ridge runners were: 12. Chris Cole 16:35; 19. Maclean O’Donnell 16:43; 45. Phil Riemer 17:12; 55. Ben Shassere 17:19; 72. Emerson Peacock 17:35; 73. Ethan McGroom 17:36; 85. John Sharpe 17:58. For Cole, it was easily the best race of the season for the Wildcats’ standout. “He ran great. Chris got out the first mile with the guys who were leading. He winked at me the first half mile when he passed me, so I knew that was a good sign. That was one of the best races I’ve seen him run. He ran about 15:55 for three miles, which is (only) about 20 seconds slower than his PR.” O’Donnell continued his fine early season running as he finished just seven places back of Cole. “O’Donnell was real strong over the second half of the race. Mentally, he’s a beast. He will not give in. A 1-2 punch like Chris and Maclean ran is a pretty good deal for us.” Etheridge said he also got solid races out of Riemer and Shassere. “Phil is as steady as you go. Ben finally had what I consider a really solid, steady race. Those (top) four guys for us were really outstanding.” Also for the Oak Ridge boys, Chris Ostrouchov earned a 15th-place showing in the Copper Division. He ran a 17:51. Oak Ridge was scheduled to run in at Chattanooga McCallie next weekend, but Etheridge said there has been a change. He’ll take his team to the local Cherokee Boulevard All-Comer’s Meet in Knoxville on Saturday. The girls start things off at 9 a.m. |
