Records Fall as D-B's Neglia, Webb's Coughlin Take Bristol Cross Wins
by STEVE WILMOTH
TriCitiesSports.com
September 23, 2017
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Meet and course records fell Saturday at the 26th Annual Bristol Cross at Steele Creek Park.
Running with the most competitive field in event history, individual winners Carter Coughlin of Knox Webb and Sasha Neglia of Dobyns-Bennett both bettered meet records with Coughlin taking down the course record as well.
Meet director Frankie Nunn said 1,777 runners pre-registered for the days’ races with each of the top 15 teams from across the state of Tennessee in the field.
The high school varsity races alone featured 525 runners from 41 boys’ teams and 31 girls’ teams.
“It’s the best field we’ve ever had,” said Nunn. “The date was a week earlier than normal and we got a lot of teams here that have never been here before.”
Neglia won the girls’ race for a second straight year with a time of 18:22.8, breaking the meet record of 18:25.10 set by Makenzie Jones of Morristown West in 2014. Neglia was just off her own course record of 18:20.60 set at the Big 7 Conference Meet last season.
“It was really hot out there today, but it was really exciting to have this many people here in Bristol,” said Neglia, the defending Class AAA state champion who coming off a hamstring injury that kept out of track and field action last spring.
Neglias was 25 seconds ahead of the runner-up finisher.
“My hamstring feels really good,” added Neglia. “I really didn’t think too much out there today, I just wanted to run my fastest. I just always run thinking that someone is behind me.”
Running minus a key contributor, the Lady Indians finished third in the team standings behind Hidden Valley of Roanoke and Hardin Valley, whom most expect to battle the Lady Indians for the TSSAA state title in November.
Hidden Valley totaled 71 points on the day with Hardin Valley next with 77 and Dobyns-Bennett third with 95. The Lady Indians also got a 13th place from freshman Morgan Cordell (20:18.1) and 15th from sophomore Emma Russum (20:28.4).
“That’s the best race Sasha has had all year,” said Dobyns-Bennett coach Bob Bingham. “Our first three were really good and we had some other people step up for us like Gracie Allen. We were missing one runner whose sister was graduating at Paris Island, but no excuses, Hardin Valley is pretty good.
“We would have to like to have won and feel like we should have won, but we are right there and going in the right direction.”
David Crockett was the only school in the girls’ race to place two runners in the top ten. Senior Breanna Roy, running healthy for the first time since her sensational freshman campaign, was second with a time of 18:47.6.
“It feels good to be back, I was out almost all of last year,” said Roy. “This was my second fastest time this season and I’m now further ahead than when I was before I had the injuries.”
Lady Pioneer freshman Rachel Dulaney (19:52.2) was tenth overall with junior Taylor Roy (20:39.3) 19th to boost Crockett to a fourth-place finish.
Eastside’s Olivia Henn (10:50.7) ran ninth with teammate Madison Ellis (20:44.3) crossing in 21st. Eastside finished sixth overall with 191 points just behind fifth-place Daniel Boone’s 174 total.
Webb’s Coughlin crossed in 15:33.4 to break the meet record of Morristown West’s Quintin McKinnish (15:44.60, 2012) and the course record of Daniel Boone’s Ben Varghese (15:36.11, 2016).
“I had no clue what the records were,” said Coughlin. “I kinda heard out of the corner of my ear somebody say something about a record. So that was a nice surprise at the end.”
A native of the Sequoyah Hills neighborhood in Knoxville, Couglin is used to running hills and quickly took to the Steele Creek Park course.
“We’ve only run on flat courses so far, but I’m more of a hills person, I love this hills,” added Coughlin. “I was looking to push up the hills on the back stretches. I knew there would be lots of competition and we’d never been here before, so I was excited to race.”
The uncommitted runner will take official visits next to month to Wake Forest, Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.
Knox Catholic won the boys’ team title totaling 106 points followed by Eastside with 134 points and Daniel Boone in third with 174.
The Irish got a second place finish from Jake Renfree (15:54.0) and fourth from Devin Sullivan (16:26.3). Eastside’s Noah White (16:12.1) with third and teammate Paul Windsor (16:56.3) tenth.
Boone’s Chance Bowman (16:30.9) crossed in fifth while Matt Huff (17:17.2) logged a 17th-place finish for the ‘Blazers. Cherokee’s Austin Kirkpatrick (16:56.1) earned the ninth spot with Sullivan South’s Zach Johnson (17:12.2) 14th.
26th Annual Bristol Cross
Steele Creek Park – Bristol, TN
Saturday, September 23, 2017
BOYS RESULTS
TEAM – 1. Knox Catholic 106; 2. Eastside 134, 3. Daniel Boone 174, 4. Spring Valley 188, 5. Maryville 196, 6. Knoxville Ambassadors 242, 7. Bearden 243, 8. Hidden Valley 248, 9. Hardin Valley 257, 10. Knox Webb 315, 11. Morristown West 322, 12. Auburn 341. 13. Dobyns-Bennett 360, 14. David Crockett 402, 15. Science Hill 420, 16. Morristown East 480, 17. L & N Stem Academy 488, 18. Abingdon 510, 19. John Battle 588, 20. Alcoa 588, 21. University High 603, 22. Jefferson County 608, 23. Sullivan South 647 24. Cannon School 649, 25. Volunteer 650, 26. Sevier County 652, 27. Virginia High 661, 28. Patrick Henry, 663, 29. Elizabethton 738, 30. Tennessee High 745, 31. Greeneville 789, 32. Grainger 853, 33. Castlewood 886, 34. Cherokee 893, 35. Sullivan Central 902, 36. Grace Christian 955, 37. Marion 990, 38. Rye Cove 1105, 39. Sullivan North 1177, 40. Happy Valley 1205, 41. Gate City 1228.
INDIVIDUAL – 1. Carter Coughlin, Knox Webb, 15:33.4*; 2. Jake Renfree, Knox Catholic, 15:54.0; 3. Noah White, Eastside, 16:12.1; 4. Devin Sullivan, Knox Catholic, 16:26.3; 5. Chance Bowman, Daniel Boone, 16:30.9; 6. Seth Bowden, Maryville, 16:39.2; 7. Noah Harding, Hidden Valley, 16:48.0; 8. Seth Jinks, L & N Stem Academy, 16:40.0; 9. Austin Kirkpatrick, Cherokee, 16:56.1; 10. Paul Windsor, Eastside, 16:56.3; 11. Tamer Metwalli, Cannon School, 16:59.9; 12. Nathaniel Blalock, Bearden, 17:07.0; 13. Steven Andreen, Spring Valley, 17:10.9; 14. Zach Johnson, Sullivan South, 17:12.2; 15. Tommy Ward, Maryville, 17:12.6; 16. Gavin Grossman, Patrick Henry, 17:16.8; 17. Matt Huff, Daniel Boone, 17:17.2; 18. Jordan Keith, Holston, 17:18.4; 19. Kenton Bachmann, Hardin Valley, 17:19.5; 20. Ethan Blevins, Abingdon, 17:20.9; 21. Jake Kirby, Jefferson County, 17:21.6; 22. Andrew Schultz, Knoxville Ambassadors, 17:24.9; 23. Mason Johns, Morristown East, 17:26.2; 24. Hank Lowe, David Crockett, 17:27.0; 25. Porter Bradley, University High, 17:30.3.
* New Meet Record – Quintin McKinnish, Morristown West, 15:44.60, 2014; New Course Record – Ben Varghese, Daniel Boone, 15:36.11, 2016.
GIRLS RESULTS
TEAM – 1. Hidden Valley 71, 2. Hardin Valley 77, 3. Dobyns-Bennett 95, 4. David Crockett 128, 5. Daniel Boone 174, 6. Eastside 191, 7. Maryville 193, 8. Knox Webb 237, 9. Cannon School 287, 10. Knox Catholic 315, 11. Auburn 333, 12. L & N Stem Academy 340, 13. Science Hill 382, 14. University High 409, 15. Bearden 427, 16. Spring Valley 452, 17. Morristown West 465, 18. Patrick Henry 473, 19. Tennessee High 531, 20. Greeneville 591, 21. Knoxville Ambassadors 602, 22. Virginia High 613, 23. Gate City 618, 24. Volunteer 634, 25. Jefferson County 650, 26. Sullivan East 671, 27. Morristown East 674, 28. Sevier County 690, 29. Rye Cove 735, 30. South Greene 766, 31. Happy Valley 858.
INDIVIDUAL – 1. Sasha Neglia, Dobyns-Bennett, 18:22.8**; 2. Breanna Roy, David Crockett, 18:47.6; 3. Cathryn Jardet, Hardin Valley, 19:11.6; 4. Callie Tucker, Knox Catholic, 19:23.1; 5. Maddy Moody, Anderson County, 19:34.0; 6. Emma Rogers, Hidden Valley, 19:41.9; 7. Lindsay Holliday, Knox Webb, 19:42.6; 8. Laura Bretscher, L&N Stem Academy, 19:45.9; 9. Olivia Henn, Eastside, 19:50.7; 10. Rachel Dulaney, David Crockett, 19:52.2; 11. Ava Harding, Hidden Valley, 19:52.5; 12. Ellie Bachmann, Hardin Valley, 20:17.8; 13. Morgan Cordell, Dobyns-Bennett, 20:18.1; 14. Shila Kapaya, Knox Catholic, 20:19.0; 15. Emma Russum, Dobyns-Bennett, 20:28.4; 16. Rylee Jorgensen, Maryville, 20:30.6; 17. Elle Anderson, Hidden Valley, 20:33.3; 18. Jenna Wall, Hardin Valley, 20:37.1; 19. Taylor Roy, David Crockett, 20:39.3; 20. Sarah Blanton, Hidden Valley, 20:39.9; 21. Madison Ellis, Eastside, 20:44.3; 22. Emma Janes, Hidden Valley, 20:47.2; 23. Kensi Gray, Hardin Valley, 20:48.2; 24. Judy Chellah, Daniel Boone, 20:49.2; 25. Madison Grimm, Hardin Valley, 20:49.5.
** New Meet Record – Makenzie Jones, Morristown West, 18:25.10, 2014.
Steele Creek Park - BRISTOL, TN
September 23, 2017
Photographer: Eddy Gray
©2017 TriCitiesSports.com, Tri-Cities Captured Photography. All rights reserved. Illegal use and distribution are prohibited by United States and International copyright laws.
