NASHVILLE – Madison Drennan and the rest of the Signal Mountain girls’ cross country team didn’t need any official results posted to know the Lady Eagles had secured the program’s first A/AA state championship. The team knew pretty quickly.
So did everyone else around the state.
Four Lady Eagles earned all-state honors, and Signal cruised to the title with 42 points — nearly half that of second-place Christian Academy of Knoxville.
Mallory Young was the first finisher for Signal, taking third. Drennan was right behind her in fourth, and Becca Umbarger’s and Taylor Luthringer’s 12th- and 13th-place finishes all but locked up the title. The Lady Eagles’ fifth runner, Chandler Chastain, was 21st.
“We’ve worked very hard for this, and it’s great to see that hard work pay off,” said Drennan, one of three seniors. “The seniors told the underclassmen before the race that this was our last chance to run, and to push through the pain — if not for yourself, for the team.”