All of the TSSAA-sanctioned Rutherford County schools took part in the Voyles Classic, which featured a combined 82 teams and 879 runners battling a 3.1-mile flat course in a huge crowd. The meet was so large; both the boys and girls division was divided up into two races apiece.

After a 30-minute delay, because of the hot weather, the first boy’s race took place. By the end of it, Oakland dynamic duo of sophomores Brock Baker (16:6.38) and Conner Thompson (16:54.22) finished one-two and fellow teammate junior Justin Slavens (17:36.41) was ninth.

Baker was pleased to finish first, but he felt like he did not each mile as even as he wanted to. However, his knowledge of the course helped him out on this hot day.

“It was my fifth time running this course,” Baker said after the race. “It definitely helps to run this course as much as I did.”

As for his fellow classmate, Thompson said the duo really pushes each other and makes them better performers.

“It’s great without him I would not be as good,” Thompson said. “We really push each other.”

In the second race, Riverdale Brandon Harvey (17.39:38) showed that pushing it to the very end is very important. Coming down the final straightaway, he passed one runner, and almost went by another at the finish. However, he just missed by millimeters. Harvey wound up 7^th.

“My performance was pretty good,” Harvey said after congratulating most of the other runners. “I feel like I went out too fast, but I closed out well.”

Blackman senior Reed Mitchell (17:56.26) was 11^th and fellow Blaze teammate junior Cody Pratt (18:08.06) was 14^th. The race featured more than 200 runners, and every position is important in terms of the final team standings. Blaze sophomore Jahtu Kinlaw proved that by running the last 1.5 miles without shoes. He said they fell off toward the end of the race. He finished 201^st, but it was a dead heat between him a BGA runner for the 200^th spot.

“I was running around the cornfield and my shoe fell off and it took too much time to put it back on, so I ran without it,” he said after the race.

As for the ladies, a youth movement is taking place. In the girl’s second race, Siegel freshman Nicole Gardner (19:19.85) finished runner-up and CMS freshman Claudia Smith (20:23.06) was seventh.

The Stars lost a key member of the team, senior Laura Bean for the season because of an injury. The rest of the Siegel team wants to step up and win the state title for last year’s regional champ.

“Coach (Phil Young) told us we need to step up,” Gardner said. “We are really upset that she got hurt, and we want to win state for her.”

As for Smith, she was glad that the race was delayed, so when they got on the course the sun was setting in the distance and they ran mostly in the shade.

“It gave us a lot of help, and it knocked off about 10 or 15 seconds off our time,” Smith said after the race.