Bryan Brown chats with his Hardin Valley team at the KIL Championships. Brown is the 5Star Preps Boys Cross Country Coach of the Year.
By Mike Blackerby
Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to realize lofty expectations.
But Farragut’s girls – led by 5Star Preps girls cross country coach of the year Chelsea Osborne – did just that during the 2019 high school season.
“It was one of the first teams I’ve ever had, that even though they’re young, they’re mature in the way they approach the sport,” said Osborne, in her 13th season as Lady Admirals coach.
Farragut’s top seven runners return next season, and the Lady Admirals had just one senior among their top 10 runners.
Farragut’s string of success started in earnest with a KIL championship in October.
The margin of victory was 26 points in front of second-place West.
Chelsea Osborne, far left, poses with her Farragut team in 2018. (Photo: FarragutXC.com)
It was the Lady Admirals’ first KIL team time since 2006.
Farragut rolled to the Region 2 team crown, scoring 36 points to finish well ahead of defending state champion West (70).
At the state meet, the Lady Admirals were a solid third behind champion Dobyns-Bennett and Brentwood.
Junior Cathy Hu finished 11th and sophomore Lexi Foley 15th for Farragut to earn all-state honors.
Osborne said Hu and Foley were emblematic of the team concept that the Lady Admirals have embraced.
“Hu is in just her second year with the program and this was Foley’s first year in cross country – she’s still trying to figure the sport out,” said Osborne.
Even though Farragut’s senior class yielded the spotlight to underclassmen, Osborne said their contribution was invaluable.
“We got some great leadership from our seniors,” she explained.
“All of our senior girls, no matter where they fell on the team, understood the important of the team (concept).”
With the bulk of the team returning next year, Farragut should be one of the favorites as the Lady Admirals look to bring back their first state cross country team championship since 1990.
“Going into next year we’ve got some pretty high hopes,” said Osborne.
The story was much the same at Hardin Valley where the young Hawks followed a similar path under 5Star Preps boys cross country coach of the year Bryan Brown.
Like Farragut’s girls, the HVA boys swept KIL and regional titles.
Hawks sophomore Kaden Keller won medalist honors at region and later took 11th in the state meet as HVA finished fifth in the team race in Nashville.
Keller, Mitchell McCown and Nate Hillis are three of the group of Super Sophs who led the Hawks this year.
“We had seven guys run sub 17:00 at Foot Locker South and our No. 8 was at 17:02,” said Brown.
“All are returners (next year). Five are sophomores, two juniors and one is a freshman.”
Brown said a key to success at HVA this season was that competition started from within.
“We had a young group of guys that worked very hard to achieve their goals,” he said.
“We had 14 guys in our top workout group that were training hard to be part of the varsity group at the end of the year.
“That competition for just seven spots was great to keep them motivated to work hard. With just two seniors, the future is bright.”
Brown said hard work is the mantra of his returning runners, who are already pointing to track season in the spring and cross country in the fall.
“We have been on a break after Foot Locker South,” said Brown in mid-December, “(but) they start back next week to achieve even higher goals this spring and next fall.”