GPS senior cross country runner Johanna Gartman enjoys stiff competition.
Gartman said Saturday that her top-three finishes in the Tennessee Classic and the Berry Invitational were gratifying because “she was pushed to go harder against some of the best.”
She’ll have to learn to accept victory again.
Gartman won the Cross Country Festival at Chickamauga Dam on Saturday, outrunning 169 other finishers to win the five-kilometer event in 20 minutes, 16.19 seconds. She outdistanced Rhea County sophomore Madalyn Garland by eight seconds.
Knoxville West’s Bryan McKeen was victorious on the boys’ side, running a time of 16:50.69 and defeating Baylor’s Simon Holden by nearly 12 seconds.