The Siegel Stars headed the Powerade Invitational Meet in Chattanooga, while the most of the county stayed in town for a meet at Riverdale.

In the girls race, Stars freshman Nicole Gardner continued her great start by winning the meet in a time of 19 minutes and 10 seconds, and helped her team finish runner-up behind last year’s state champion, Baylor. Siegel’s coach Phil Young has been impressed with her performance so far this season.

“She comes to practice with a great attitude and the desire to compete and improve each day,” Young said. “Training with boys of her same ability has really helped in her quality workouts.”

In a short time, she has gained respect with her older teammates and Young has been pleased with the way she has handled herself even with the early success.

“I really do not have to say anything to her,” Young said. “I always check to see how she is feeling, and how was the workout. She is very modest about her ability.”

As for the boys, four of the Stars runners ran personal best in the race that included two of the top teams in the state, Independence and Baylor. They were Tyler Boone (19:19), Drake Uselton (19:25), Spencer Pennington (19:40) and Mason Timken (19:44). Those performances helped the Stars finished second behind Independence.

While the Stars raced in the southeast corner of the state, most of the other area schools stayed in town and ran in the Warrior Invitational at Riverdale.

In the high school boys race, Tullahoma’s Eric Nelius finished first, while the top local runner was Central Magnet star Andre Hillman who finished runner-up in a time of 17:21. Riverdale runners Daylan Jacks and Brandon Harvey finished third and fifth respectively. Blackman also had three runners in the top 10, Reed Mitchell (4^th), Cody Pratt (6^th), and Thomas Padgett (10^th). La Vergne’s Jonathon Conley was ninth.

CMS’s Claudia Smith finished in the top spot in the high school girls race in a time of 20:25. Riverdale also had four runners led by Grace Pepper’s second place in the top 10. Eagleville also had two runners in the top 10.

Riverdale head coach Stephen Williams helped put the event together and he said the work started back in the summer. He added the local runners enjoyed the home field advantage.

“Home field advantage is real,” Williams said. “The kids know the layout of the course and they can adjust pacing accordingly. The turnout was great. We were just as large that day as the much more established Beech High School meet held at the same time. Next year, our goal is to be bigger, but more importantly, better.”

Also the top local middle school runners also took part in the meet. Oakland Middle’s Taylor Cuneo won the girls race with a time of 13:18, while Christiana Middle’s Avery Stokes won the boys race in a time of 12:55.