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The Cookeville Cavaliers boys and girls cross country teams will compete at the state championships Friday Sanders Ferry Park in Hendersonville.
While the girls team will be returning to the state meet, this will be the first time since 2020 have qualified as a team. Senior Brayden Gallagher said it was a pre-season goal to make it to state, so he is pleased with the work everyone’s put in and the results that have come.
“I’m incredibly excited, especially since this will be my first time running,” Gallagher said. “I know most of the girls’ team has, but I came up short myself this past year. It looked at time, earlier in the season, that I wasn’t so sure we’d be able to qualify. So, just to do that your senior season is incredibly exciting.”
Levi Detwiler lead the boys’ placing seventh at regions with Gallagher, Isaiah Hart and Aden Goode all adding sub 20 minute times. The girls’ were led by Katie Hetzel who won the regional tournament in her senior season with a time of 18:26:97. Hetzel said she is more impressed with the team accomplishment.
“I think that this year we’ve really focused more on the team aspect rather than us as individuals,” Hetzel said. “And it’s just amazing to see what we can do as a team.”
Hetzel said that she feels much healthier and stronger heading into the state meet this year than she did a year ago. She said a key for the year’s success has been in the team avoiding injuries and overcoming adversity when injuries do pop up.
Both teams came in third at the regional meet. In their first year as coaches for the Cavaliers program, Travis and Jenn Shope said they could not be more proud of their runners.
“We have told them that we believe in them,” Jenn said. “And I think that, really just believing in yourself at this point, I mean they had the training and they could do it, but they had to believe they could do it. And that’s what our big focus was.”
The team has a week to get their bodies and minds ready for the state meet. Travis said that the runners are fueled by seeing results, so coming away from a successful regional meet, he is expecting big things from the Cavs.
