Cleveland's Owen Clemons is clearly in a hurry, and there's nothing wrong with that.
The 15-year-old distance runner capped his first season of high school cross country by winning the TSSAA Class AAA boys' state meet Friday at Hendersonville's Sanders Ferry Park.
The 6-foot Clemons was able to enter the race with confidence after setting the course record earlier this season with a time of 15 minutes, 1 second on the 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) trail. He won Friday with a time of 15:22.47 — nearly 11 seconds faster than runner-up Trevor Coggin of team champion Farragut, which also had the fourth- and fifth-place finishers — despite unseasonable 80-degree heat.
"This is Owen's third state title in a row. He won his last two in middle school and now is a high school champion as a freshman, which is pretty unheard of," said Cleveland cross country coach Johnny Clemons, Owen's father. "Owen has had a tremendous season and is currently the fastest high school freshman cross country runner in the country."
He won Friday despite finishing far ahead of any teammates — the next Cleveland runner placed 66th — and was one of only five freshmen in the top 50 overall. The Blue Raiders, 18th in the 23-team field, had the youngest lineup in the race after qualifying with five freshmen, a sophomore and a junior.
Clemons has given himself a chance to become the first four-time individual state champ in TSSAA boys' cross country history, and he aspires to be a professional runner by the time he is out of high school. Coach Clemons said by the middle of Friday's race, his son realized he was on his way to a victory.
"Owen always gives God the glory in whatever he does. His faith is very strong," Coach Clemons said. "After the race, he got down and prayed with other runners, and that meant so much to me."
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon.