Led by individual champion Carter McVeigh, the Junior Bucs raced out to a 41-46 victory over Greeneville on the boys’ side with Chuckey-Doak also qualifying for the state. The four-time defending state champion girls’ team beat Greeneville 43-62 with West Greene taking third-place honors.

The wins came despite the teams battling illness and injuries throughout the season.

“These kids are tough,” said UH first-year head coach Anna Marie Riccardi, who took over the Jr. Bucs program from Gene Cahill. “Almost all of my girls had something wrong with them at some point. They’ve all been relentless the last 2-3 weeks. Jackie Nelson took two minutes off her time from the week before. I’m real proud of them.”

With a two-minute surge in the middle of his run, McVeigh won the boys’ individual race at 16:57, nearly 17 seconds faster than Dylan Jones of Greeneville. It came in less than ideal conditions when the air felt hot and the course had been soaked by rains two days earlier.

“I don’t know what happened. I usually run better when it’s cold than when it’s hot. Sometimes it just comes down to the day and today, I had a good day.”

Seth Hilbert finished seventh, while finishes of 10th, 11th and 12th by Brian Smith, Gabe Perry and Alden Collins gave the Junior Bucs the necessary points for the win. Alex Williams with a 13th-place effort was also a medalist.

On the girls’ side, sophomore Landry Loving finished second overall to Greeneville senior Ashley Ellenburg. Loving came in at 21:11 with Ellenburg’s time at 20:54. More important to Loving was her team now gets a chance to go after a fifth straight state title.

UH junior Kirby Brosmore posted a solid fifth-place run, while Forrest Sturgill, Jaclyn Nelson and Sterlin Elliott packed together to run 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively.

“Considering the way the season has gone with injuries, it’s really nice,” Loving said. “It’s going to be exciting at state. Our fourth and fifth girls were iffy for a while, and now they’re set in. It really looks good for us.”

Mansy blew away the competition in the Class AAA boys’ race, winning by 24 seconds over Spencer Frantom of Morristown West. In repeating as Region 1 champion, the senior’s time of 16:03 beat his own course record from a year ago by nearly 10 seconds.

“Winning the region was definitely my goal,” Mansy said. “Not only did I win it, it was the fact I rebroke the course record on a day when it was very hot with a lot of wet spots. That was tough because it was messing with my head a little bit. Running is a lot more mental than people think it is. When the race doesn’t go your way, you have to mentally focus and push through it.”

While Mansy added he was glad to get a high score for the team, it wasn’t enough to qualify the ‘Toppers for the state meet. With freshman Devon Woodmancy the only other Science Hill runner in the top 15, they finished fourth overall with 97 points. The top three teams were Morristown West with 30 points, South Doyle with 71 and Dobyns-Bennett with 80.

Foster’s winning effort did help Science Hill’s defending girls state champions finish second overall to Dobyns-Bennett 30-45. Morristown West also qualified for the state with 92 points.

Just a freshman, Foster made the winning pass on D-B senior Kendra Sokol around a quarter-mile from the finish. She then added a strong kick at the end of her 20:16 run to win by nine seconds.

“I just took off and she kept following me,” Foster said. “I tried my hardest to get away from her.”

With Martha McCoy in fourth and Samantha Gosey in fifth, the Lady ‘Toppers had the early lead on D-B in the team standings. While they didn’t hold on, a 16th-place by Catherine Nanney and a 23rd by Ellis Linder was enough to punch Science Hill’s ticket to next Saturday’s state meet in Murfreesboro.

“I’m proud of myself and all of my teammates too,” Foster said. “I’m excited about the state. I believe with all that competition, I can run a good time.”

Top-10 individual finishers in the AAA competition included Andrew Price of Daniel Boone and Sean Duffy of David Crockett on the boys’ side and Cassie St. John of David Crockett on the girls’ side. For the Class A/AA boys, David Laporte of Elizabethton finished third, while Christine Hardin of Elizabethton finished ninth in the A/AA girls’ race.

Much of the focus at next week’s state meet will center on University High’s efforts to sweep boys’ and girls’ titles like they did in 2007. Their head coach, a recent two-sport athlete at ETSU, isn’t sure whether one or both teams will win the state, although it’s a safe bet she will be on pins and needles when next Saturday rolls around.

“I’m nervous, but I’m also so excited,” Riccardi said. “I get more nervous for these meets as a coach than I ever did as an athlete.”