Editor’s Note: Tomorrow, Oct. 28, the cross country team will run in the state qualifier meet at Daniel Boone High School. They are hoping to qualify. Last month, Teddy Tooley attended the return of the Bristol Cross at Steele Creek Park, cancelled previously due to Hurricane Helene.
This is the 33rd year since Coach Tom Murrell designed the Bristol Cross, and it is still one of the most highly anticipated that Tennessee High hosts.
On Sept. 27th 2024, Hurricane Helene struck East Tennessee primarily in the counties Cocke, Greene, Unicoi, Washington, Carter, and Johnson, therefore canceling the 2024 Bristol Cross for the first time in the history of the race. Steele Creek itself lost numerous trees, and the course was dangerous and un-runnable.
When Coach Frankie Nunn saw the course he “knew the team couldn’t run there.”
That didn’t stop Coach Nunn however, and he went to work clearing the track of everything caused by the hurricane.
A year later, Tennessee High ran the would be 34th, now 33rd annual Bristol Cross. On Saturday, Sept. 27th, Tennessee High hosted over 80 teams from across the region–quite the comeback for this well-loved meet.
The Bristol Cross is one of the harder courses that the Vikings run; this is the general consensus amongst the team. This is largely because the course consists of a stretch where runners will run down a steep hill, then complete a u-turn and run back up it.
This portion of the course is described by runners as challenging and is generally perceived as the most difficult part of the race. Tennessee Middle School cross country coach, Tom Murrell, designed the Bristol Cross 33 years ago.
Coach Murrell and former Coach Randy Irvin “had the priority to make a two lap course on the site, [but] the terrain did not lend itself to a flat course.”
Coach Murrell described the course as “challenging but fast due to the fact that the long downhill from the start to the finish is run three times over the course of the race.”
The weather was essentially the opposite of last year’s hurricane. In fact, the sunshine and clear skies during this meet were described by junior runner, Andrew Sells as “a little hot” but other runners described it as “good,” as well as other runners being happy the course didn’t get rained out.
Still, even with good weather, there were certain spots that sophomore Brodyn Murphy said there were spots that were “very slippery,” that “lots of people fell on.”
The boy’s cross country team was led by junior Andrew Sells, and the girls were led by senior Jenna Reecher. Sells finished 9th overall with a time of 16:56 and Reecher finished 5th with a time of 21:02.
In past seasons, Senior Ryder Poole led the Viking boys, but he has been out on injury all of this season. This made way for Andrew Sells to take his place, leading the Viking boys to finish 11th out of 26 teams.
During the high school boy’s race, Tennessee High finished 11th, and during the high school girl’s race, Tennessee High finished 6th.
