By Steve Williams
How does Hardin Valley Academy continue its dominance in cross country?
That question was put to Head Coach John Witsell last Wednesday after his boys’ and girls’ teams swept top honors in the TSSAA D1 Class AAA Section 2 Meet at Victor Ashe Park.
“Well, each and every year going into the season that is our goal – to beat our region,” said Witsell. “Just like any other sport, you want to be on top of your region, section and division and be the shining light in that group of teams. That’s our No. 1 goal and we are going to call that one a checkmark.”
The day alone was gorgeous with the colors of autumn and temperatures climbing up into the 70s.
HVA senior Aiden Rufi was the boys’ Class AAA individual champion with a PR (personal record) time of 15:57.02 over the 5,000-meter course, followed by runner-up Chase Temples of Farragut, who clocked it in 16:00.77.
Others in the Top 5 included the Hawks’ Stephen Bell (16:02), Halls’ Zachary Jenkins (16:17.05) and HVA’s Isaac Socha (16:21.02).
Nathan Weiss and Brody VanMeter also helped Hardin Valley take top team honors with 24 points to qualify for the Class AAA state meet, which will be held in Memphis Thursday. Runner-up West (76), Farragut (79) and Oak Ridge (95) are state-bound, too, along with individuals Miles Bailie (Karns), JD Rutig and Parson Campen (Central), and Baylor Cool (Bearden).
Rufi said having his team here with him and all of his four years accumulating to this final season made him want to win the sectional race with his teammates and get to the state meet to also win it.
“This is the first step to that,” he added.
Aiden, who has been running since the eighth grade, recalled having “a pretty bad season” this year and mentioned he had a bike injury but recovered from that.
Finally, the time for his big race was here for him.
“We got off the gate and my plan was just to stick on my teammate,” he said. “And then I just felt really good, so I went out and led for the rest of the race.”
THIAGO RODRIGUEZ, a South-Doyle junior, placed fifth in the Class AA Sectionals with a time of 17.19.83. He will compete in the Class AA state meet in Memphis on Friday.
