Signal Mountain girls aim for fourth straight cross country state title

Signal Mountain girls aim for fourth straight state title

Signal Mountain's Taylor Luthringer, one of the area's top distance runners in both track and cross country, will lead her team's attempt to claim a fourth straight state championship in cross country.
Signal Mountain's Taylor Luthringer, one of the area's top distance runners in both track and cross country, will lead her team's attempt to claim a fourth straight state championship in cross country.

Three to watch

Boys’ cross country1. George Arrowsmith,McCallie, senior2. Talus Irio, Baylor, senior3. Thomas Porter, Signal Mountain, seniorGirls’ cross country1. Taylor Luthringer, Signal Mountain, senior2. Addison Smith, Baylor, sophomore3. Carley Braman, GPS, junior

It has become the normal expectation for Signal Mountain's girls' cross country team.

The Lady Eagles, who have won the past three Class A/AA state championships, had four of the top 15 finishers at last year's state meet but lost several key members from that group.

Taylor Luthringer finished fifth overall and is again one of the area's top individual runners. The senior will be counted on as a leader even more with a group of young runners behind her when the season begins next week.

"We know what Taylor is capable of, and our younger runners can learn a lot just by following her," Signal Mountain coach Dustin Carpenter said. "It's a different group than we've had, but we still feel like we'll be a strong team.

"Winning a championship should always be every team's goal. We're not big on pushing that on the girls because they already know that expectation is there and they know what it's going to take. The first few races will tell us a lot about where we are and what we need to work on."

Behind Luthringer will be junior Kate Umbarger, sophomore Mattie Parker, freshman Emily Davis and another junior, Catherine Drennan, who has experience as a sprinter during track season but is becoming a distance runner.

"She's coming off an injury and felt like running distance races would make her stronger," said Carpenter, who also expects to field one of the best boys' teams in program history, led by seniors Thomas Porter and Matthew Williams and juniors Garrison Wheeler and Jonah Bird.

Similar to the Signal Mountain girls, McCallie has one of the top returning runners in senior George Arrowsmith, who is being asked to set the pace for a group of young but talented runners that includes six freshmen who won the middle school state title last year.

"The good news is we have a bunch of good freshmen. The bad news is they have to run as varsity athletes," said McCallie coach Mike Wood, who added that sophomore Boniface Bizimana could also become one of the area's top runners this fall.

Baylor's boys will be young as well, but the Red Raiders will count on a pack of runners to put up good team numbers, rather than relying on one or two.

"Talus Irio is our number one runner, and he's really blossomed after sticking with it for four years," Baylor boys' coach Jan Gautier said. "He's really made huge strides since last year, so I'm anxious to see how he races."

Baylor's girls return sophomore Addison Smith, who finished third in last year's Division II state meet, along with senior Alison Anderson and sophomore Catherine Cansler, both of them Best of Preps honorees last year. Likewise GPS returns three Best of Preps runners: junior Carley Braman, who finished fourth in the D-II state meet, and seniors Kate McVay and Lea Mulligan.

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.

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