Prep notes: Siegel sweeps county cross country title

SMYRNA – Siegel swept the Rutherford County Championships cross country meet held Saturday as part of the Sharp Springs Invitational.

Once held as a stand- alone meet, county runners had their times from the Sharps Springs Invitational pulled out and re-scored for county meet purposes.

Siegel won the boys meet with 44 points, two less than second-place Oakland. The Patriots were without their top runner Eli Leskinen, who was on a college visit.

Riverdale was third with 70 points. Blackman was fourth with 107 and Central Magnet was fifth with 116.

La Vergne’s Leonel Perez won the county meet and was the overall winner in the Sharp Springs Invitational. Perez won in 16:30.39. He was more than eight seconds ahead of second-place finisher Siegel’s Spencer Pennington (16:38.55). Siegel’s Tyler Smith was third in the county meet (16:52.35).

Siegel won the county girls title with 29 points, placing all five of its runners in the top 10. Riverdale was second with 34 points and Central Magnet had 76 points for third place.

Siegel senior Nicole Gardner was the overall girls winner (19:17.25) in the gold division and county championship. Riverdale’s Maddy McClellan and sister Emma McClellan were second (19:45.12) and third (20:09.96) respectively. Siegel’s Victoria Simmons was fourth (20:46.06).

Central Magnet standout freshman Taylor Cuneo did not compete in the girls race to rest up for this weekend’s race in Alabama. Central Magnet’s Claudia Smith is also scheduled to make her return since suffering a knee injury during basketball season in the meet in Alabama.

AP poll update: MTCS (6-0) cracked the Associated Press’ Class 2A statewide prep football this week after its 36-30 overtime win over Whitwell.

The Cougars host Moore County (3-3) at 7 p.m. Friday.

Blackman (6-0) remained ranked second in Class 6A after coming back to defeat Independence 43-42. Oakland (5-1) dropped from third to fourth despite throttling Brentwood 49-7. Whitehaven (6-0) replaced the Patriots at No. 3. Riverdale (5-1) moved from ninth to sixth after defeating previously unbeaten Hendersonville 39-36. The Commandos dropped from third to sixth.

Breaking ground: MTCS and public officials broke ground Monday afternoon on a new tennis court complex that is scheduled to be completed in the spring or summer of 2015.

The complex includes six courts. The private school will become the lone school in Rutherford County to have its own tennis courts on campus.

“It’s a culmination of 10 years of prayers and dreams,” MTCS tennis coach Lawrence Goodwyn said. “ It’s what I’ve been hoping for and praying for since I first arrived.

“It means we can have a lot more tennis.”

It is not known yet if the facility will be completed by the time the 2015 spring season begins.

Back-to-back: Siegel won the Back To the Boro Tournament on Saturday for the second straight season. Siegel (40-1) defeated Bartlett 25-10, 25-19 in the gold bracket final. Bradley Central defeated Mt. Juliet 25-23, 25-9 in the silver bracket division final.

MTSU commitment Tori Simmons led MTSU with 68 kills, 14 aces, 68 digs and four blocks. Alexa Faulkner had 35 kills. Leah Poarch added 34 kills, 13 aces and five blocks. Asha Phillips had 30 kills, 46 digs and five blocks. Hannah Poarch tallied 61 digs and 11 aces.

Jill Morgan recorded 175 assists and 12 aces. Liz Bossong served 10 aces and had 31 digs. And Emily Stockstill had three blocks.

Big week for soccer: Siegel defeated Tullahoma 4-1 on Saturday in a tune-up for a big week of girls soccer for 7-AAA. Sarah Williams, Emma Adcock, Janie Hopper and Kayla Moultry all scored goals for the Lady Stars.

Siegel (5-2-4, 2-1-0 in 7-AAA) plays at Riverdale (4-7, 1-3-0) at 5 p.m. Tuesday before playing at district leader Oakland (7-3-1, 4-0-1) at 7 p.m. Thursday. Second-place Stewarts Creek plays at Smyrna at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Committed: La Vergne two-way baseball player Chris Johnson announced on Twitter over the weekend that he has committed to Columbia State Junior College. He is the third La Vergne baseball player to commit. Jake Hammon has committed to Morehead State and Dejuan Martin has committed to Maryville College.

Offered: Oakland athlete George Gbesee received an offer from Wofford prior to the Patriots’ non-district game with Brentwood.

• Blackman running back Charlie Davidson received an offer from UT-Martin on Saturday.

Contact Tom Kreager at 615-278-5168 or tkreager@dnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kreager.