8/22 - Saturday Light Fever

Lindsey Bachman
​As the sun went down Saturday night, things were just beginning to heat up at Sanders Ferry Park as the 2026 Chick-Fil-A Saturday Light Fever races got underway! 
 
Competition kicked off with the girls and boys JV races where we saw tremendous efforts across the board. The girls were off first with 5 freshmen and 2 seniors towing the line - all first-time 5kers accept return runner Billie '27. Lena '30 led the way, followed by Julia '30, Charlotte '30, Olive '30 & Liliane '30 who ran side by side to the very end, Kumi '30, and Billie '30 with a massive 5+ minute PR!!O​n the boys side, the first five finishers were all freshmen or sophomores, led by Oren ‘29 and Abe ‘29. Kudos to first-time High School 5kers: Ram ‘30, Wyatt ‘30, Aayen ‘29, and Lucas ‘27.​ Both JV teams placed 12th in a large team scoring field. 
 
​As darkness settled in, it was time for the varsity races to get underway...
 
​The girls varsity field went out fast and furious as to be expected with a field of 284 girls, including powerhouse schools from the large school division. Fresh off the SAT, Madeleine 27' found her familiar spot at the front of the Tiger pack, leading her team from start to finish. Our next six finishers came across in three closely matched duos - veteran Jackie '27 followed closely by first time 5ker Penny '28, then newcomer Charlotte '28 and current Chicago Marathon training extraordinaire Norah '27, and senior Adelaide '27 and Sydney '29 in at least one borrowed shoe! These three dynamic duos stayed within each other's sights throughout the race and proved to be the perfect push each one needed. Rounding out our varsity top 10 for the night were Lucy '30, Ella '29, and Greenlee '29. Extra shout out to Lucy for her incredible effort and courage to race in a fast varsity field as a freshman! The girls placed 18th out of 32 scoring teams with a top 5 average time of 23:15.
 
The boys Varsity was the last race of the night and featured ​307 runners, including the top 2 ranked teams in the State in the large public school division. The boys squeezed into a starting box right next to one of those teams, undeterred by their ranking and their dismissive behaviors. Within a mile, Griffin ‘27 and Drew ‘28 were already in the top 10, with Caleb F ‘28 and Jack ‘27 not far behind. As the race went on, the “fab four” continued to move up, with a supporting case of James ‘28, Caleb ‘28, and Ike ‘30 running together as the rest of our top 7. Griffin ended up in 4th place in the second-fastest time in USN history, and Drew in 8th, just 10 seconds behind. Caleb F also ran a PR and Jack a strong performance after taking the SAT in the morning. Ike would emerge as our fifth runner, closing out our team score in 4th out of 35 teams. Tyler ‘30, Meade ‘29, and Elliott ‘29 all ran well as part of our ten-runner varsity. The top 5 posted the fastest average in USN history​, 16:46.
 
​The evening ended with a rather large glow stick and glitter filled disco rave on the field of the finish line. Almost zero fun was had. 
 
​You can visit the race website on MileSplit for complete meet results along with fantastic photo coverage of the meet. We’ll get back to work and race again in three weeks at the Chickasaw Trails meet in Alabama.
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University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.