Goodwin, Young pace team victories

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

DAYTON, Tenn. -- Jackson Goodwin didn't get the personal-best time he was shooting for Tuesday afternoon in the cross country league meet at Fort Bluff. His consolation prize? His first win.

The Baylor junior outdistanced Bradley Central's Harold Smith in the five-kilometer event near Dayton, getting his first win of the season in a time of 16 minutes, 57.68 seconds. Baylor's boys dominated the team event, with three top-10 finishers and 39 points.

Signal Mountain won the girls' race, defeating Heritage and Baylor, led by Mallory Young as the individual winner.

Winning wasn't in the initial plan of Goodwin, but that mindset changed around the second mile.

"I'll take the win any day," he said. "I was just trying to stay with [Ooltewah's] Garrett Flores, but I realized that I could take off in the second mile. I pulled up right with Harold and realized I was faster and took it from there."

The Lady Eagles claimed their third consecutive win, having already claimed wins at the Tennessee Classic and at a league meet at Baylor last week. As the season has progressed, so has the team, which has been led by Young but had three top-10 finishers Tuesday. Madison Drennan was seventh and Becca Umbarger 10th.

Even after the win, there was no thought of a potential day's rest -- even if it's allowed by the coach.

"We don't want to take days off," Umbarger said. "We have to work to get ready for state. We're trying to get better every meet."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6311. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.