Polk County cross country coach Travis Carroll was a little worried about how the results from the Region 3-A/AA meet would play out, knowing only that his girls performed well. It turns out, they performed so well that they won.
The Wildkittens pulled out a seven-point victory over Arts & Sciences to claim the region championship Tuesday morning at Woodland Park Baptist Church.
CSAS doubly qualified for the state meet in Nashville on Nov. 2, as its boys' team finished third. The Lady Patriots' Janelle Wigal claimed her third consecutive individual region title, while Loudon's Mark Rupinski won the boys' crown. Wigal completed the five-kilometer course in 20 minutes, 59.34 seconds, while Rupinski's time was 17:25.11.
Collegedale Academy's Daniel Mihaescu was the top area boys' finisher, taking third in 18:03.13.
The Polk girls' top runner was Shelby Moyers, a sophomore who finished fourth. Amber Moyers (7th) and Hannah Withrow (10th) gave them three top-10 finishers.
"It's one of those days that you're proud to be a coach," Carroll said. "These girls have done all I could ask for all year long."
Besides the top three teams qualifying for the state meet, area individuals going are Boyd-Buchanan's Jada Hale, Hank Warren and Rainer Zarzour and Polk's Justin Schoelzel.
Red Bank's boys finished second, 25 points behind champion Sweetwater.
"The boys ran tough today," Red Bank coach Hugh Enicks said. "The entire team is coming back next year, so I'm just happy to be going so these guys can get a taste of the state meet."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6311. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.