Posted  8:00 p.m. October 26, 2006

    O'Donnell sets pace for OR
    at regional cross country meet

    By Mike Blackerby
    editor@oakridgesports.com

    KNOXVILLE -- Oak Ridge almost made it a clean 4-for-4 sweep Thursday morning at the Region 2-AAA
    cross country meet at Victor Ashe Park.
    Coach Allen Etheridge’s boys and girls -- as expected -- easily captured team titles and earned trips to
    the state meet a week from Saturday in Nashville.
    Individually, Oak Ridge’s Maclean O’Donnell turned in a superlative effort on his way to winning the boys’
    title.
    O’Donnell toured the 3-mile course in a time of 16 minutes and 28 seconds to outdistance runnerup Matt
    Sonnenfeldt of West by four seconds.
    The only thing missing for Oak Ridge was an individual crown in the girls’ division.
    Lady Wildcats freshman Autumn Gipson turned in the top effort there for OR, taking fourth in a time of 19:
    52.
    While Etheridge is looking for even more from his team come a week from Saturday on the Steeplechase
    Course in Nashville, he said he’ll take Thursday’s regional effort.
    “It was a good day and an exciting day,” said Etheridge.
    While much was expected of Oak Ridge going in, one of the pressing questions was which Wildcat runner
    would emerge as the top individual challenger for first-place honors?
    As it turned out, it was O’Donnell.
    And -- according to Etheridge -- O’Donnell ran like a champ.
    “I knew that if it came down to toughness that Maclean is gonna win every time, because Maclean is a
    tough kid. Not every kid can pull off that kind of race. It’s amazing, because I think he’s only our third
    regional champion ever on the boys’ side along with Joe Angelini and Nic Crider.”
    Coming in, O’Donnell said he was shooting for at least a top-three finish in the meet.
    “I felt good from the start,” said O’Donnell.
    “Before the race I was hoping to finish second or third overall. I thought Matt Sonnenfeldt was probably
    the favorite.”
    O’Donnell, who took the lead for good at about the mile-and-a-quarter point, said he began to feel
    confident about winning the race at the 2-mile marker.
    From there, he gave it all he had.
    “I was spent (at the end of the race), definitely.”
    With O’Donnell setting the pace, Oak Ridge cruised to the team win with 40 points.
    Also moving on to state competition as teams were runnerup West (72) and third-place Maryville (80).
    Finishing behind O’Donnell for OR were: 6. Chris Cole (16:52), 10. Emerson Peacock (17:17), 11. Ben
    Shassere (17:19), 12. Phil Riemer (17:25), 17. Cory O’Lear (17:30) and 26. Ethan McGroom (17:52).
    “We put six guys in the top 20 at region -- something’s going right,” said Etheridge.
    Cole took sixth despite running the final 600 meters with just one shoe.
    Meanwhile, the Lady Wildcats scored an even more decisive team victory than the boys as Oak Ridge
    totaled 35 points to outdistance Farragut (74) and West (104).
    “Our girls had a good team day. Thirty-five points is a good score. We beat a pretty good Farragut team
    -- they’re not slouches at all.”
    Individually, William Blount’s Kristen Tithof successfully defended her regional title as she overtook
    Farragut freshman Alex Newby in the final half mile to win handily.
    Tithof was clocked in a time of 19:01 with Newby next at 19:15.
    Placing behind Gibson for Oak Ridge were: 5. Melanie Kulesz (19:55), 6. Leslie Jenkins (20:10), 9.
    Allison Miles (20:37), 11. Whitney Irby (20:43), 12. Corinne Lariviere (20:52) and 13. Tara Tae (20:59).
    Etheridge said that the Lady Wildcats’ overall effort was good, but they better kick up a notch or two if
    they have state championship aspirations.
    “When I look at Autumn’s race, it looked like she was just cruising. Melanie ran outstanding and Jenkins
    was good, but I have seen her run better. Allison Miles was outstanding. I told her dad I didn’t see her
    being an all-region runner (but she was).”
    In junior varsity competition, Oak Ridge swept both team and individual honors. The Oak Ridge boys won
    with  a perfect score of 15. Christian Lewellyn took honors in the race. On the girls’ side, Oak Ridge
    totaled 16 points with Meghan Hughes winning individual accolades.
Oak Ridge Cross Country