Chattanooga: Solid fields in Front Runner

Red Bank’s Claire Turner won’t get the opportunity to defend her win at the 2007 Optimist Championships.

Neither will Baylor’s cross country teams — since the name has changed.

Front Runner Athletics has taken over sponsorship of today’s meet, which will still be held at Baylor starting at 5 p.m.

Turner would be riding a wave of momentum into the race after winning last Tuesday in the Riverpark race, but she and her Red Bank teammates are not entered.

Even without her, the girls’ field is loaded. Chattanooga Christian’s Jessica Duble and Chattanooga Patriot sophomore Johanna Gartman have won four of the five Chattanooga Cross Country League races. Bradley Central junior Jacquelin Pitcock has no league wins but won the Tennessee Classic in Knoxville and the prestigious Jesse Owens Classic in Alabama this year.

McMinn Central’s Dianna Eddington has been in the top-five in every league race. She was fifth in the A/AA state race as a freshman and is coming off her first sub-20-minute time of the year at the Riverpark.

Baylor has three girls — Mary Stagmaier, Virginia Kelly and Hannah Jumper — who have run under 20 minutes this year, as has freshman Anna Hoffman of the upstart David Brainerd program.

Even the team competitions have been close, as five teams — Baylor, Chattanooga Christian, Cumberland County, Dalton and Red Bank — have posted wins.

“It’s been exciting to watch them all year,” said Silverdale Baptist coach Jim Steffes, who also helps with the Chattanooga Patriots. “We knew coming into the season that this would be a good group of girls. Not only have they been good here, but they are good on a state-wide level. You have a good quality of girls that are right here in our backyard, and I’m looking forward to the race. There is no clear-cut favorite.”

Steffes mentioned that the girls’ field has been missing Notre Dame’s Alex Mullin this season, who after being a top runner last year, decided to concentrate on soccer and is a starting midfielder for the top-ranked Lady Fighting Irish.

Led by senior Bill Matthews, who is coming off a course-record time at the highly-regarded Great American Cross Country Festival in Birmingham, Ala., the Red Raiders boys’ team has been ranked as one of the top teams in the Southeast all year.

Highlighted by Matthews, the area has had a strong boys’ season, as 10 runners have had sub-17-minute races this year.

CCS’s Matt Coniglio has wins in three of five races and top-10 finishes in every race he has entered. Cleveland’s Alex Stephens and Soddy-Daisy’s Jake Fien are familiar names, but the surprise runner of the year has been McMinn County sophomore Junior Cifuentes, who won the Woodland Park race.

Lakeview Fort-Oglethorpe’s Jake Bradley is one of the top runners in North Georgia.

“This should be a fast race,” Baylor coach Van Townsend said. “(Baylor girls coach) Heather Ott used a wheel and a GPS, so the course should be pretty accurate. It’s flat, so it can be fast — most of these kids are used to tough and hilly courses.

“It’s not as fast as what the River Park course was, but it should be fast and the weather should be good.”

Region meets upcoming

After today’s meets, the next step for most area programs will be the region meets.

The A/AA and AAA meets will take place at Fletcher Park in Cleveland next Thursday, starting at 1 p.m. with the A/AA race.

The Georgia Region 6-AAA meet is at Dellinger Park in Cartersville on Oct. 30, and the 7-AAAA race will be Nov. 1 at Ridge Ferry Park in Rome, the same day as the Tennessee state meet at Percy Warner Park in Nashville.

The Georgia state meet will be Nov. 8 at the state course in Carrollton, Ga.

Baylor, GPS, McCallie and St. Andrews-Sewanee do not have a region meet and will next run in the state meet.