By JOSH EZZELL, Post Sports Editor

TMP Photo by Kelly Hite.

Siegel sophomore Aliyyah Haynes calls it a “big reunion.”

It’s not a family reunion where everyone sees family members and gets a chance to reminisce. Rather, it’s a reunion where track athletes get a chance to get reacquainted with other area tracksters they haven’t seen in a while.

This is the Rutherford County Track and Field Championships, which last two days — this year Tuesday and Thursday — where Riverdale, Oakland, Blackman, Siegel, Middle Tennessee Christian School, Eagleville, Smyrna and La Vergne compete against each other to determine which squad is superior.

Riverdale earned bragging rights this year. The Lady Warriors scored 186 points to beat Siegel (161), La Vergne (104), Oakland (74), Eagleville (48), Smyrna (36), Blackman (25) and MTCS (90). The Riverdale boys tallied 214 points to defeat La Vergne (191), Oakland (110), Blackman (60), Smyrna (58), Siegel (19), Eagleville (10) and MTCS (8).

“You get to race against competition in the district,” Riverdale junior distance runner Rob Wilson said. “It’s cool to see everybody.”

Wilson, however, didn’t prevail in the 3,200-meter run in which he competed. The winner proved to be Oakland junior Drew Thompson for the second straight season.

“Some of these people we’re seeing for the first time,” Thompson said. “We’re in the same district with Blackman, Riverdale and Siegel. It’s really about bragging rights.”

Blackman freshman Jared Phillips agrees.

“It’s fun to get to meet some of these people,” said Phillips, a runner. “I like it because we get to run against locals.”

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK
For one school, MTCS, the county meet is a new and exciting event. That’s because MTCS fielded a track team for the first time this season.

“A couple of us went to the administration to see if we could (start a team),” MTCS freshman Anna LeDeoux said. “We’re pretty excited about this. We’ve never experienced this before.”

The coach in charge of leading the new program is Darrick Ware, an English teacher who’s also an assistant football coach. Ware ran track in high school and is eager to accept the challenge.

“They’re going up against AAA schools,” Ware said. “You’d think they’d be complaining, but they’re not. They’re excited about going out there. The kids love to go out there and run.”

To get runners Ware talked to his female students about running track and got football players to compete, which is good for everyone. It provides everyone an activity and keeps the football players in shape. Plus, it helps MTCS field a team.

“A lot of people are excited about the team,” LeDeoux said. “We’ve learned a lot. People from other schools have given us tips.”

MTCS will keep coming back and learning in the future.