Very Good at Vaughn's Gap!

A truly spectacular day for the cross country teams at today's Middle Region championships! The short version: the girls are the 2023 Region Champions and the boys are Region Runners-Up!
 
 
A truly spectacular day for the cross country teams at today's Middle Region championships! The short version: the girls are the 2023 Region Champions and the boys are Region Runners-Up!
 
The girls collectively ran a nearly perfect team race, with incredible tactical execution joined with determination. Madeleine Wiseman led the way, hanging near the front pack the whole race; Morgan McAteer was in the next group and Liv O'Hara a little further back. As the race developed and the infamous "Sideways Hill" took its toll, Morgan and Liv found themselves moving up near Madeleine, ending with a 3-4-5 finish (Madeleine, Liv, Morgan), all within 7 seconds. It takes 5 runners to complete a team score, and not far behind, Grace Boero had herself a day, finishing 15th (All-Region) with Olivia Hess right behind in 16th. Not too far off, Jackie Seale and Chloe Cmelak were in 21st and 22nd, meaning USN's 7th runner was faster than every other Region team's 5th runner. It all added up to a 20-pt win for the team, their first Region title since 2011 and a great momentum builder for next week's State meet.
 
The boys did battle with a very strong front pack from Columbia Academy, and for a time, a group of seven (5 CA, 2 USN) controlled the front of the race. Once again, as the hill had its impact, the group splintered a bit, but Eli Galentino stayed close to the front and finished 4th. Not far behind was Jack Fruin in 7th, and then the Tigers' team race came down to the rest of the team's positions. They were up to the challenge, with Griffin Davidson (in his first 5k!!) running spectacularly to take 16th, just a literal step ahead of Clay Payne in 17th. Caspar Schmidt was just 7 seconds behind them in 19th, and Simon Fox and Brandon Fonseca showed the team's depth with 22nd and 25th place finishes. Columbia Academy was too strong to beat, but the team finished a strong second, continuing a more than decade streak of finishing either first or second in the Region.
 
Not to be outdone, the JV took complete control of the race, flirting with a perfect score (1-5) for a time. In the end, the Tigers took seven of the top ten places en route to a dominant team win, as well as Drew Brackett's first overall victory (followed by Adam Wang and Paulo Saoud). There were any number of impressive performances, especially the first 5k for Henry Baxter and Gabi Ackerman-Lieberman, as well as the first seasonal 5k for Daniel Guo.  The girls had a small but mighty crew, with final races for seniors Cléo Gauthier and Alice Frein, and first Region races for Norah Harrison and Adelaide Ritter.
 
A huge shout-out to all of our 18 seniors, without whom this season would not have been nearly so successful, fun, or memorable. We will continue to work for a week or so, then compete at next Thursday's State championships!
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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.