A little change in the practice schedule went a long way for McMinn Central’s Dianna Eddington.
The Chargerettes senior ran away from the field Thursday, winning the Tennessee Riverpark cross country meet by 42 seconds. She finished the 5-kilometer course in 20 minutes, 29.50 seconds.
Red Bank’s Robert Bridges came on in the final 100 meters to pass McCallie’s Michael Zeiser and win the boys’ race in 17:25:14.
McCallie won the team title with three top-10 finishes for a total of 50 points, while Dalton’s girls narrowly defeated Heritage 86-95. One runner in each race had to be carted off in an ambulance.
Eddington noted that during the preseason, her team practiced before school, but after the first race of the season at Heritage, when the temperature was in the area of 96 degrees, practice was moved to after school.
“Now that we’ve switched to after school, we’re having better times,” she said. “After practicing so early, we weren’t ready for the heat of that first race.”
Eddington plans to race in the Tennessee Classic at Percy Warner Park this Saturday morning. She was pleased with her first win of 2010.
“There’s just been a lot of stress this year, dealing with colleges,” she said. “It’s like they’re throwing money on the ground and if you can run a certain time, you get the scholarship; but if not, it’s gone. The only thing I did today was pray and run.”
Bridges’ win was a lot more narrow. Zeiser seemed to be in control of the race but started to fade late, which gave the Red Bank sophomore enough incentive to sprint the final 150 meters for the win.
The time was Bridges’ fastest of the year.
“He took a wrong turn and kind of stalled; that’s when I realized I could catch him,” he said. “When I saw him slow down, I was determined to pass him, so I got right on his heels and took it from there.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com or (423) 757-6311.