It’s time for high school fall sports in Tennessee, with cross country, girls’ soccer and volleyball programs allowed to hold their first contests starting Monday, according to the TSSAA calendar.
At McCallie, a senior-loaded group of runners abounds with talent and expects to compete for a Division II-AA state championship, as does Chattanooga Christian School.
McCallie’s Samuel Ligon could battle stride for stride with Edimo Ninterestse, a fourth-year standout for CCS, as both look to break 16 minutes in the 5k. Local home-schooler Chase Faudi is the top boys’ runner back in the Chattanooga area, with his time of 15 minutes, 54 seconds at last year’s city championship making him runner-up to Red Bank’s Cole Bullock, who is now an Ole Miss freshman.
“Getting back to school and cross country season is a blast,” McCallie coach Mike Wood said. “We have a group of seniors who have been around each other for a very long time and hope to win a state title this year. They are so much fun to be around, and we hope to have three or four guys who run sub 16.”
Cleveland’s Ryan Lovelace and Baylor’s Helen Webb were promising young runners last season. Lovelace placed among the top 50 in the Division I Large Class boys’ state meet with a time of 17:14.63, and Webb placed third in the DII-AA girls’ meet as an eighth-grader at 20:04.24.