Top run: Moody takes first in Region
ACHS teams take second; TSSAA championship meet next
For the second-consecutive year, Ava Moody has won the Region 2-A/AA girls cross-country championship.
Moody, a junior on Anderson County High School’s cross-country team, captured the 2024 individual region title at Knoxville’s Victor Ashe Park on Wednesday, Oct. 30, completing the 5,000-meter course in 19 minutes, 47.32 seconds.
She also won last year’s region title and claimed two distance titles at the state track and field championships last spring in Murfreesboro. Moody placed third at the 2023 state cross-country championships.
“She’s having a good run,” Anderson County first-year Coach Mollie Fox said of Moody, who led the Lady Mavericks to a second-place finish at last week’s region meet and a spot in the 2024 state championships Thursday afternoon at Sanders Ferry Park in Hendersonville.
The Class A/AA girls’ state championship race begins at 2:50 p.m. ET.
Moody was one of three Lady Mavericks to finish in the Top 10 at the region meet. Sydney Day placed eighth with a time of 22:37.98, and Morgan Haire took ninth in 22:39.92.
Two other ACHS runners cracked the Top 15. Rebekah Berg finished 11th with a time of 22:45.03, and Marley Caldwell placed 14th in 22:38.36.
The Lady Mavericks finished second to rival Alcoa in the team standings. The Lady Tornadoes won the meet with 29 points, while ACHS finished with 35.
Anderson County’s boys’ team also finished second at the region meet in Northwest Knoxville last week but lost the team title via a tiebreaker.
“I thought we competed well, both the boys and girls,” Fox said. “The boys’ score was closer than the girls’. We were tied, and it came down to the sixth runner.”
After the tiebreaker, the Tornadoes were declared region champions, edging out Anderson County 51-55.
Vance Laster placed second, clocking in at 16:52.29.
He was one of three ACHS athletes to finish in the Top 5, with J.J. Cutler taking third (17:10.56) and Cameron Hardy finishing fourth in 17:20.21 in just his second race since July.
Hardy had been sidelined with an injury, but returned for the region meet.
“Some of the girls have had injuries this season, but Cam has battled an injury all year,” Fox said. “He came back for The Mounds Meet just before the region. We’re definitely glad to have him back and competing with us. Before The Mounds, he hadn’t raced since July.”
Fox hopes to have better luck against Alcoa at the state meet. The boys’ state championship race begins at 3:40 p.m. ET.
“I was a little disappointed that we didn’t beat Alcoa,” Fox said. “But I’m happy with the way we competed. Maybe we can get them at state.”