The Newport Plain Talk

©2009 NPT PHOTO BY RUSSELL LAWS The Cocke County Big Red picked up a third place finish at the Smoky Mountain Invitational Tuesday at the Cocke County A&I Fairgrounds in Newport. Squad members include, front from left, Thomas Colter and Lamar Woods. Second row, from left, are Anthony Beck, Zack Holt, Taylor Hawk, Leo Woods and Brian Conner. Back row, from left, are Rider Richardson and Daniel Rymer.

NEWPORT-The Cocke County High School cross country team has been showing steady improvement through three meets on the season, and were especially hot following their performance in Knoxville on Thursday, September 10. So, they were primed and ready to show their stuff when they hosted their lone home meet of the season this past Tuesday, the Smoky Mountain Invitational at the Cocke County A&I Fairgrounds in Newport.

When the final runner had crossed the line, the Big Red came away with an impressive third-place finish while the Lady Red made great strides and finished seventh overall.

On the ladies side, a three-way tie forced a tiebreaker decision on the top three team finishes, and the edge went to West Greene, followed by South Greene and Elizabethton.

South Greene's Brittney Brown finished first overall with a time of 23:30 followed by West Greene's Mary Ann Murphy, 24:09, and Morristown West's Leslee Howard, 24:11.

The Lady Red were led by Kalee Richardson, who picked up a ribbon with a 10th place finish at 25:05. Brooke Ray finished 12th at 25:14, followed by Ashley Gregg, 26:28, Marlea Costner, 34:53, and Alley Sprouse, 35:03.

On the boy's side, Morristown West dominated, finishing first overall, followed by Chuckey-Doak and Cocke County.

The Trojans had the top three runners, including overall winner Spencer Fantom, 17:22, followed by Jordan Noe, 17:50, and Desmond Pierce, 17:57.

The Big Red were led by Taylor Hawk, who finished 15th at 20:00, followed by Dusty Rymer, 20:00, Anthony Beck, 20:02, Lamar Woods, 20:12, Leo Woods, 20:32, Zach Holt, 21:40, Brian Conner, 22:23, Ryder Richardson, 26:34, and Robert Barrett, 29:57.