The East Tennessee Catholic
Long-distance runners from Knoxville Catholic High School and Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga placed at the TSSAA cross country state championships held at Shelby Farms Park in Memphis Nov. 6-7.
The KCHS girls team finished second overall in the Division II-AA meet, and three Lady Irish athletes placed in the top 15 individually to earn All-State honors. The Knoxville Catholic boys team placed third, with one runner earning All-State recognition.
Senior Kacey Holiday led the KCHS girls with a sixth-place finish, clocking in on the 5K course at 18 minutes, 34.33 seconds. Calysta Garmer of Webb School of Knoxville won the state title in 17:05.62.
Kacey’s sophomore teammate Drew Gerken placed eighth in 18:48.97, and sophomore Caitlin Daniels joined the other two in the All-State group with a 15th-place time of 19:26.87.
Sophomore Livi Ray and freshman Julia Joyce took 18th and 19th places, respectively, for the Lady Irish. Another freshman, Linley Lawhorn, placed 28th, and classmate Josie Holliday came in 53rd.
In the team standings, Knoxville Catholic scored 66 points, coming in second to Webb (33).
Junior Cade Duncanson of the KCHS boys received his All-State award after a 13th-place time of 16:07.42. Andrew Beroset of McCallie finished first in 15:03.60.
Knoxville Catholic sophomore Evan Van De Griff placed 17th, senior Radek Molchan 20th, freshman Owen Bannister 22nd, senior Levi Sprecher 23rd, sophomore Riley Horton 34th, and freshman John Mounts 48th.
KCHS’s boys team scored 95 points to finish third, with McCallie taking the championship with 31 points.
Notre Dame freshman Ally Osborne came in 41st at the girls state meet. The NDHS boys were led by senior Jose Gray in 42nd place. Another senior, Josiah Morais, took 48th. Senior Dylan Hall, freshman James Sabba, junior Joseph Sabba, senior Sawyer Smith, and freshman Samuel Martin also crossed the finish line for the Irish.
As a team, the Notre Dame boys finished 11th out of 15 scoring schools.