Signal Mountain girls, GPS and CCS boys win cross country state titles

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The Chattanooga area had a strong showing in Saturday's cross country state championship meets at Percy Warner Park in Nashville.

Signal Mountain's girls won the team state championship in Division I-Small, while Girls Preparatory School won the Division II-AA team championship and Chattanooga Christian's boys won the Division II-A team title.

Signal Mountain won its team title over White House-Heritage, while Arts & Sciences finished seventh overall. The Lady Eagles were led by junior Mattie Parker (21:27.70), who was third in the 5-kilometer race. Five other Signal Mountain runners finished in the top 24, with senior Julia Agan (22:00.57) seventh, followed by eighth-grader Tara Jessen (22:24.86) in ninth. Senior Kathleen Umbarger (22:55.10) was 14th, Catherine Drennan (23:36.56) was 21st, Caroline Cornett (23:52.76) was 23rd and Gracen Glover (23:56.81) was 24th.

Sequatchie County sophomore Emma Bradford (22:42.34) was 12th, and Bledsoe County's Jessica Campbell (23:22.11) finished 20th.

GPS won with 63 points, six better than Brentwood Academy, with Baylor finishing fourth. The Bruisers were led by second-place Carley Braman (20:07.62), and freshman Jane Eiselstein was fourth (20:39.52). GPS junior Myra Brock (21:12.56) was 10th and eighth-grader Emmy Richey (22:15.80) was 20th. Baylor freshman Emrick Garrett (20:50.32) was sixth, while juniors Sydney Cansler (20:50.32) and Merrit Newton (22:06.86) were 14th and 17th.

In Division II-A, CCS senior Phoebe Moran (21:54.93) was 14th as the Lady Chargers finished sixth in the team standings. Rhea County junior Lesley Green (19:31.92) was 11th in Division I-Large.

The CCS boys finished with 62 team points, five ahead of second-place University School of Nashville. Chargers sophomore Edimo Ninterestse (17:02.75) finished second individually, juniors Joshua Richardson (18:04.13) and Mattew Adams (18:05.09) were 13th and 14th and sophomore Chase Manton (18:41.47) was 20th.

Brentwood Academy claimed the Division II-AA boys' title with 31 total points, while McCallie (52) was second. Baylor finished seventh.

McCallie junior Dawson Carmack (17:13.29) was sixth, sophomores Duke Richey (17:17.21) and Chris Duncan (17:31.04) were seventh and eighth and Blue Tornado sophomore Samuel Ligon (17:38.76) and junior Walton Bedell (17:45.27) were 13th and 16th overall.

Red Bank junior Cole Bullock (16:04.09) finished fifth in Division I-Large, while in Division I-Small, Signal Mountain finished third overall, led by senior Garrison Wheeler (18:00.15), who was eighth. Teammates Daniel Hillard (18:24.69) and Tamjeed Azad (18:32.67) were 12th and 14th. Grundy County's Leo Penne (18:00.91) finished ninth and Arts & Sciences' Mack Alas (18:40.64) was 15th.

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