While the Knoxville Cross Country Squads did not win team championship at the South Central Conference meet held at Pine Knolls Golf Club in Knoxville, the Panthers did walk away with individual hardware as freshman Isaac Rankin continued his great season by claiming the boys individual conference title winning the race in a time of 18:10, winning by :32 seconds. The boys as a team finished 4th with 102 points. Other finishers for the Panthers were Ezra Schmidt in 12th, Ethan Russell in 26th, Hunter Gray in 30th, Reid Sinclair in 33rd, Marco Alejo in 35th, and Kaden McGill in 37th. For the girls it was also a team 4th place finish, and an all-conference from Natalie Collins, whose 8th place finish in a time of 23:17. Other varsity finishers for the Panthers were Janae Baker in 12th, Janie Maasdam in 33rd, Anna Buttell in 34th Nicole Schultz in 36th, Ciara Heffron in 37th and Hannah Linsley in 38th. Both Rankin and Collins told KNIA/KRLS Sports it felt good to run at home and do well in their final meet of the season in Knoxville.
Isaac: “I would say I finished better a lot, the last mile was the best which was usually that with my first mile.”
Natalie: “It feels really good. I was feeling kind of rough before the race, and I knew I needed to change my mentality and the team really helped with that.”
Knoxville will now set its sights on the class 3A State Qualifier, where the Panthers learned Tuesday they will head to Pella on Wednesday of next week. As the Panthers were running around Pine Knolls, the class 4A #13 Knoxville volleyball Squad was running by Chariton in three sets 25/18, 25/13, and 25/11. Brittany Bacorn continued her torrid pace this season with 14 kills while Emma Dunkin was 17/18 serving with four aces, Hannah Dunkin was perfect in eight serve attempts with three aces, Ella Brazeale had ten kills, and Melanie Sullivan was 18/18 serving with five aces which brings her total to 49 on the season which puts her along with teammates Bacorn and Emma Dunkin in the top 20 of that statistical category in class 4A. Knoxville is now 22-11 and will host the Panthers Invitational on Saturday.