Ashley sixth, Panthers 10th at Chattanooga XC League meet at Heritage

A year after being named the Walker County Boys’ Cross Country Runner of the Year, Ridgeland’s Gabe Ashley is already making a strong case to be a repeat winner.

The sophomore, who finished second at a meet at LaFayette High School last Thursday, had the sixth-fastest time in the Chattanooga Cross Country League (CXCL) Meet at Heritage High School last Monday.

Ashley completed the tough, hilly 5K course in a time of 17:50, a full 50 seconds faster than the 18:40 he clocked at LaFayette a little more than a week ago.

His performance helped Ridgeland to a respectable 10th place among the 25 boys’ varsity teams in attendance. Coby Voyles had a 19:23 for the Panthers, followed by Bode Tucker (20:36), Chris Prescott (21:34), Myers Tucker (21:46), Juan Velazquez (22:05) and Brandon Hair (22:21).

Gordon Lee took 13th place, thanks in part to solid times from Justin Collins (19:04) and Jasper Wilson (19:27). Rounding out the Trojans’ varsity lineup was Bailey Burns (20:28), Ian Goodwin (21:17), Rob Napier (24:01), Braxton Ledford (24:33) and Haven Howard (26:03).

Mason Burkett (20:49) set the pace for LaFayette, who finished 18th overall. Also running for the Ramblers was Matthew Newsom (21:03), Noah Armstrong (21:36), Trey Henderson (21:36), Beau Thrash (21:46), Eric Hu (21:52) and William Sainthill (22:11).

Baylor had its top six runners finish in the top 15 overall and coasted to the win with 41 points, well ahead of Cleveland (125) and Walker Valley (166).

Two runners from the homeschool-based Chattanooga Patriots took the top two slots individually. Junior Jonathan Boyd blistered the course in 16:46, while freshman Chase Faudi clocked in at 17:19. Heritage senior Jerryd Tennyson was third at 17:37.

On the girls’ side, Gordon Lee’s Kate Gilliam had the fastest time among Walker County runners with a 25:01, followed by Sarah Young with a 26:22. Filling out the remainder of the Lady Trojans’ varsity roster was Riley Cash (28:25), Emma Cate

Dendy (29:31), Chanler Hysell (31:00), Kaylen Jackson (31:00) and Kaitlyn Hester (33:33).

The Lady Trojans placed ninth out of 16 teams in the field.

LaFayette finished 14th and was led by last year’s Walker County Girls’ Runner of the Year, Kaci Rogers, with a 26:21. Also racing for the Lady Ramblers was Brianna Minor (29:09), Ali Gilbreath (29:56), Hannah Elliot (32:13),

Sierra Jackson (32:22), Rachel Graham (34:54) and Lauren Pike (36:14).

Ridgeland’s lone runner on Monday was Marina Mosgrove, who crossed the line in 35:37. The Lady Panthers did not have enough runners to qualify for the team score.

Heritage’s girls won on their home course with 35 points. Northwest Whitfield (79) was second and East Hamilton (95) was third.

Sophomore Kathyrn Vradenburgh of the Chattanooga Patriots took first individually with a time of 20:26,

followed by Heritage senior Noor Sabeeh (21:43) and Heritage junior Alex Gass (21:53).

In the junior varsity race, the LaFayette boys placed sixth out of 12 teams, followed by Ridgeland in eighth and Gordon Lee in ninth.

Running for the JV Ramblers were Jonathan Romans (21:35), Devin Henderson (22:00), R.J. Sievers (22:04), Jarrod Sitton (25:05), Jordan Capello (25:17), Jake Price (25:17), Sam Storey (25:56), Jacob Clarke (26:34), Zach Price (30:09), Kris Witherow (30:39) and Wes Ingram (30:42).

Participating for the JV Panthers were Will Voyles (22:00), Eliot Jones (23:15), Gavin Losh (23:52), Dakota Dehart (25:08), Jacob Gadd (25:14), Josiah Williams (25:23), Preston Perreault (27:58), Logan Couch (31:38), Corey Housley (32:09), Cesar Pichardo (33:49) and McKinley Mosgrove (34:13).

Jake Wright was seventh overall in the JV race for the Trojans, clocking in at 21:09. Rounding out the rest of the lineup for the JV Trojans was Jake Lee (22:29), Cole Collins (23:12), Weston Beagles (27:03), Alex Stone (29:41), Owen Frost (30:53) and Sam Norton (32:17).

Running for the Lady Trojans in the JV race was Kylie Walker (35:43), Michaela Russell (37:40) and Lennon Lowery (38:13). Gordon Lee did not have enough runners to qualify for the team score.

The next CXCL Meet is slated for Tuesday (Sept. 27) at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, starting at 5 p.m.