CROSSVILLE — Almost 500 runners participated in the Cumberland County Junior Cross Country League 2013 season opener Thursday, March 13, at the Stone Memorial High School course. All nine elementary schools competed along with the two private schools — Crossville Christian School (CCS) and Christian Academy of the Cumberlands (CAC).

This season will feature the schools separated into two divisions based on enrollment.

Division A features Brown, Crab Orchard, Pine View and Pleasant Hill elementary schools, along with CCS and CAC.

Division AA features Homestead, Martin, North Cumberland and South Cumberland.

The top 15 runners in each race received an individual runner award and all other runners receive a participation ribbon.

The girls’ junior varsity race was won by fifth-grader Lauren Tabor of North Cumberland with a time of 6:58 on the one-mile course. Tabor won each of the four races last season. Crab Orchard fifth-grader Makenzie Pentz was second at 7:11.

Rounding out the top five were Keaton Frietag, Martin, 7:21; Katie Coudriet, North Cumberland, 7:36, and Alison Seiber, Pine View, 7:39.

South Cumberland fifth-grader Reese Dykes finished first in the boys’ JV one-mile race with a time of 6:57. North Cumberland fourth-grader William Hecker was second at 7:14, followed by a pair of Rebels,  fourth-grader Clay Davis at 7:20 and second-grader Wyatt Davis at 7:21. Pleasant Hill third-grader Kristopher Gayheart was fifth at 7:23.   

North Cumberland seventh-grader Sydney Tabor extended her winning streak to 10 races dating back to March 2011 with a time of 12:12 on the two-mile course for the girls’ varsity. Tabor won the five JV races in 2011 and each of the varsity races last season. Patriot teammate Hailey Coudriet was close behind at 12:14. Chelsey Roysdon, Martin, 13:10; Kaitlin Seiber, Pine View, 13:19; and Cheyenne Jones, Crab Orchard, 13:32 rounded out the top five.

North Cumberland eight-grader Ben Tabor won the boys’ varsity race with a time of 11:21 over the two-miles. A fantastic battle took place for second place as Stone’s Brady Adams and Brown’s Xavier Findley ran neck-and-neck for much of the second half of the race.

Adams crossed the line at 12:13 with Findley less than a second behind at 12:14. Hayden Woody crossed the line South Cumberland at 12:28 and Crab Orchard’s Austin Seiber finished at 12:31 to round out the top five.

Teams compete in both an overall points total, along with a division point total.

Points are determined by the places of the top five runners for each school. Both divisions race simultaneously with kindergarten through fifth grades competing in junior varsity and sixth through eighth grade in varsity races.

At the end of the season the league will award a grand champion trophy to the winning school from both A and AA divisions with the best overall point total. The next team in line from that division will take the first place and so on. First- through third-place team awards will be presented for each division at the end of the season.  

North Cumberland leads the overall girls’ JV point totals with a team score of 48 for its top five runners, followed by Martin (66), Pleasant Hill (109), Crossville Christian School (111), Pine View (136), Homestead (151), South Cumberland (203) (20, 32, 46, 49 and 56), CAC (312), Crab Orchard (326), Brown (382), and Stone (389).

CCS leads Division A girls’ JV with a point total of 50, followed by Pleasant Hill (57), Pine View (58), CAC (127), Crab Orchard (134), and Brown (162).

North Cumberland leads Division AA girls’ JV with a point total of 25 followed by Martin (35), Homestead (82), South Cumberland (118), and Stone (229).       

South Cumberland leads the overall boys’ JV point totals with a score of 25, followed by Homestead (100), Crab Orchard (118), North Cumberland (121), Pleasant Hill (126), Martin (133), Stone (139), Pine View (236), Brown (325) and CAC (576).

Crossville Christian School had only four runners to participate so there was no team score.

Pleasant Hill leads Division A boys’ JV with 38 points, followed closely by Crab Orchard (39), Pine View (77), Brown (109) and CAC (205).

South Cumberland leads Division AA boys JV with 22 points, followed by Homestead (71), Stone (82), North Cumberland (86) and Martin (91).      

Homestead leads the overall girls’ varsity point totals with 54 points, followed by North Cumberland (86), Pleasant Hill (97), South Cumberland (118), Pine View (142), Crab Orchard (159), Stone (170) and Martin (172).

Brown, CCS and CAC did not field enough runners for a team score.

Pleasant Hill leads Division A girls varsity with 33 points, followed by Pine View (48) and Crab Orchard (55).

Homestead leads Division AA girls varsity with 45 points, followed by North Cumberland (59), South Cumberland (81), Stone (116) and Martin (116).

Homestead leads the overall boys varsity with 81 points, followed by Crab Orchard (87), North Cumberland (100), Brown (116), Pleasant Hill (118), Stone (154), Martin (179) and Pine View (321).

CCHS and CAC did not field enough runners for a team score.

Crab Orchard leads Division A boys varsity 37 points, followed by Brown (51), Pleasant Hill (52) and Pine View (106).

Homestead leads Division AA boys’ varsity 50 points, followed by North Cumberland ((57), Stone (88), South Cumberland (89) and Martin (99). 

For further information on the Cumberland County Junior Cross Country League please check out the Facebook page or the league website at https://sites.google.com/site/cchsgirlsleagueuexc.