CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Chattanooga Christian’s Matt Coniglio said the new Fletcher Park course was “awful.”
Johanna Gartman of the Chattanooga Patriots home-schooled program found it just fine.
In any case, the two runners found it good enough to pull out victories in the first Chattanooga Cross Country League meet of the year, one that Cleveland coach Casey Price called “by far, the biggest since I’ve been here.”
There were 366 varsity runners on the revamped course, and at least 200 were in the junior varsity race.
Coniglio had competition from Cleveland’s Alex Stephens but broke away late to win the five-kilometer race in 17 minutes, 55.95 seconds.
“I thought I ran terrible, to be completely honest,” Coniglio said. “It was really hot and we had a senior retreat Sunday to Tuesday at Camp Cherokee, and it wore me out. I’m happy to get the win. Alex is really good, but I got out and took control as early as I could and held on for dear life.”
Coniglio wasn’t sure what to expect coming in.
“I had no idea since they had changed the course up a little,” he said.
Stephens was second in 18:16.31.
“I came in thinking about the (Powerade Invitational) last Saturday, in which I didn’t do well,” Stephens said. “We run it every year and I never do well, but it’s kind of a starting block. I had hopes of winning today, but I was out two months this summer with a knee injury and not quite up to par.
“I’m just trying to get going. This is my senior year and I’m wanting to get ready for the future.”
Stephens said his time was a letdown.
“I knew coming in that they had changed the course, but we usually run it pretty fast,” he said. “Matt was the only competitior I knew coming in, but the course turned out to be tough. All I can do is learn and get better. My time wasn’t anywhere near as good as I wanted, and I’m going to have to improve. I’m used to running sub 17 minutes on this course, so to get 18 is a huge demoralizer.”
Gartman was able to take control of the girls’ race early but had to use a late kick in the final 100 yards to pull away from Chattanooga Christian’s two-time Class A/AA state champion, Jessica Duble. Gartman finished in 19:59.44, Duble in 20:01.47.
“I’m very tired,” Gartman said, “but I knew I wanted to get a head start. I feel more encouraged when I’m in front and people have to catch me, instead of me having to pass other people.”
Gartman, in her first year of cross country, liked the layout of the course.
“It’s not all straightaway,” she said. “You’re in the woods, there are different turns and you’re going different places.”
She said she wanted to finish in the top three.
“I know about (Red Bank’s) Claire Turner, (Notre Dame’s) Alex Mullin and, of course, Jessica Duble,” she said, “and I knew I would have a tough time trying to beat those girls.”
Turner was eighth in 21:53.94.
Dalton’s boys won the team race, with three top-10 finishes (Alfredo Castillo sixth, Andrew Bruner seventh and Chris Pineda eighth) and a total of 77 points. Cleveland, led by Stephens and Haden York, who finished 12th, was second with 97.
The Baylor girls edged GPS, 81 points to 89. Baylor’s Virginia Kelly took fourth and Mary Stagmaier sixth, while Nandia Taylor led GPS with a seventh-place finish.
