Posted  6:30 p.m. August 21, 2007

Lady Wildcats look to do their ‘part’ this cross-country season

By Mike Blackerby
editor@oakridgesports.com

These Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats certainly want to hold up their part of the “bargain” this
cross-country season.
Assuming Oak Ridge’s boys -- the prohibitive favorite to win the state Class AAA meet
for the third year in a row -- live up to expectations, it’s then up to the Lady Wildcats to
make it a clean sweep at the Steeplechase Course in Nashville come November.
That would give Oak Ridge just the second sweep (boys and girls) of a cross-country
state meet in TSSAA history. The only other time it was done was in Class AAA was in
2000 by Germantown Houston.
“That has always been a goal (to sweep the state meet) at Oak Ridge,” said coach
Allen Etheridge.
“They talked about it when coach Mac (former OR coach Jim McNamee) was here --
and they came close.”
This year, Etheridge said Oak Ridge has the horses to do more than just talk about
accomplishing the rarified feat.
“We talked to our girls’ captains about it back in June and explained to them the
expectations that were on the horizon. Up to this point, I’d have to say that they’ve
handled it really well. Expectations are that we’re gonna be pretty good … and I tend to
agree.”
The Lady Wildcats took second last year in the state meet and are looking for their first
crown since 1999.
While Etheridge admitted Oak Ridge’s girls have the potential to reel in a state title,
nothing will be handed to them.
“The thing that’s different about girls’ (cross country) is freshmen play such a big role.
Girls’ cross country is much harder to predict. Going in, I think Science Hill is going to
be pretty good and then you’ve got Brentwood and Houston.”

Here are thumbnail sketches of Oak Ridge’s projected varsity runners this fall:
  • Sophomore Autumn Gipson has as much natural talent as any Lady Wildcat to
    come down the pike in recent memory. “Autumn was all-state last year, she has
    great wheels and she’s a great kid. She takes a while to round into form -- you
    won’t see the best of Autumn until we get to October when push comes to shove.”
  • Running No. 2 behind Gipson is junior Melanie Kulesz, another all-state
    performer in 2006. “Mel had a great summer. She is one of our most consistent
    trainers. She’ll do exactly what I want her to do with her workouts.”
  • Sophomore Leslie Jenkins showed flashes of brilliance last year and could be
    poised for a break-out season. “She finished 21st at state last year and could
    have been all-state. When Leslie is on, she’s as good as anybody we’ve got. She
    has as much talent as anybody we’ve got.”
  • At the No. 4 slot, senior captain Whitney Irby will be counted on to run well and
    provide leadership to the young Lady Wildcats. “Whitney has been there and
    done that. She has had the highs and lows -- and you can’t discount that when
    talking about a leader of a group of kids. She’s really close to that all-state group
    -- probably within 20 seconds.”
  • Corinne Lariviere is one of Etheridge’s hardest workers. “Lariviere just kills
    herself in practice every day. The other girls see that and push themselves even
    harder.”
  • There’s a battle brewing for the final two varsity spots among Allison Miles, Hilde
    Oliver and Lauren Irby. “Allison is right there and Lauren has made much
    progress. Hilde would have probably run state last year for us, but she was on
    crutches at the time.”

The bottom line: Etheridge has a bevy of girls who would be running varsity for just
about any other school in the state.
“We’re so deep. We just have a lot of kids (about 80, counting boys and girls) on our
roster who can run.”
Oak Ridge begins running for keeps on Sept. 8 when they face Maryville in a dual meet
at Maryville College.
OAK RIDGE CROSS-COUNTRY GIRLS