List of 4 news stories.

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  9/12 - Chickasaw Trails Invitational

  9/12/2026
  Lindsey Bachman
  Torrential downpours and tornadic winds on Friday turned the normally lightning fast Chickasaw Trails course into a much sloppier one (perhaps best suited for "mudders," as in horse racing). Saturday was luckily rain-free racing, but humid air and a muddy course presented challenges - ones that the Tigers overcame!

   

  The varsity girls kicked the morning off under blue skies with an terrific team effort that led them to a 2nd place overall team finish. With a score of 112, they out ran 22 other small school teams, including our familiar region opponent and last years TN girls state champs, BGA, who placed 3rd. Leading the way for the tigers was senior Madeleine Wiseman with a 4th place finish, followed closely by Jackie Seale (16th) and Penny Borinstein (19th and a PR). Norah Harrison (35th) and Sydney Lasher (38th and a PR) completed our scoring top five, with Adelaide Ritter (51st) and Charlotte Kehler (52nd) rounding out our top seven. Special shout outs go to Charlotte for a redemptive finish after a fall in the second mile, Greenlee Davidson for a double barrier breaker PR, Layla Jahangir for a gritty debut race, and Ella Apthorp for muscling through ongoing quad pain. On the day, 4 of the 10 earned personal best times, with the rest running at least a season best. Much to celebrate from the day, but just as much room for improvement. We will be back on the same line in three weeks time, and no doubt chasing down even lower scores and faster times. 

   

  The varsity boys were next, running up in the Large Schools race (we would have easily won the Small Schools division) for stronger competition. That proved true, but the boys were led by 3 PRs in the top 5 group (Caleb Freifeld (running the 4th fastest time in school history), Drew Zwerner (6th fastest in school history), and Ike Tift (our fastest-ever 5th runner), pushing the team to the fastest top-5 average in school history and a 7th place finish among 39 strong squads.
  
  The JV runners also competed well, with the all 9th and 10th grade girls led by Lucy Garrison's PR. Lena LeClere was next to cross for the jv girls, followed by Liliane Mokhtari and Olive Lueken who also earned over 1 minute PRs. Mia Seltzer rounded out the girls 5 with a strong first race of her season. The boys had all 5 scoring runners PR, by Oren Schwartz's fine 19:25 PR (kudos to Abe Boehler, Ram Chitale, Kireet Annam, and Devin McAteer). Wyatt Omary, Knox Followill, Aayen Parikh, Lucas Nichols Boller, and Taylor Tyska also all posted best times.

   

  Complete meet results available HERE.

   

  These Tigers have 2 weeks time until they are back on a different AL starting line at the ON Twilight meet on the 26th. Until then, they'll be putting in the work to run down even more personal and maybe even a few school records.
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  8/22 - Saturday Light Fever

  8/23/2026
  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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  8/15 - Intra Squad Season Opener

  8/21/2026
  Lindsey Bachman
  The USN cross country teams officially ​k​icked off the​ir season with​ a 2-mile intra-squad meet​ on a steamy Saturday night at the Rampus. Featuring four co-ed teams of Tigers​, the meet served as a fun and competitive​ dress rehearsal for future evening races this season. ​While the heat and and humidity made for challenging ​conditions, ​runners put their summer heat training to the test​ and the results were promising. Click for full recap and more photos!
  
  

   
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  JOIN US Monday 8/17- USNXC BACK TO SCHOOL RUN!

  8/14/2026
  Lindsey Bachman
  Celebrate the start of the school year and will some miles and smiles with you favorite USNXC Tigers! We will meet on Monday at Sevier Park in 12South at the pavilion near the playground at 4:15 PM. There will be 1-3 mile route options to choose from, followed by a cool down walk to Jeni's to enjoy some ice cream and more quality time with your teammates. Family members are welcome to join for this event - it's a great chance to get to know some of the people you will see at meets.