By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–The Union City boys’ cross country team can pack for a trip to the state meet for a fourth straight year.
The Tornadoes secured their latest state berth Tuesday, winning the Region 7 Small Division championship for the fourth consecutive fall at Westview High School.
The senior contingent of BJ Frankum, Ben Martinek, Matthew Parr and Coby Butler was joined by junior Cedrion Cook in claiming the top hardware from the meet. The team, which also includes Brendan Meade and Cameron McLendon, will now compete against the state’s best Nov. 5 at Sanders Ferry Park in Hendersonville.
They’ll be joined by girls’ teammate Baily Wagoner, who placed fourth individually to qualify for state competition.
“I’m just so proud of everyone,” UC head coach Katie Parr said afterward. “They all ran their best races today and worked so hard.
“It’s been so much fun coaching these kids. We are looking forward to working hard the next week at practice to do as well as possible at state next week.”
The UC boys have finished 18th, 7th and 6th the last three years at the state level. They’ll look to better their best-ever finish – accomplished last year – with a veteran group.
Frankum (17:39) placed third in the individual category Tuesday and also was third in last year’s state meet. Cook (17:54) was sixth on Tuesday, while classmates Martinek (19:03) and Parr (19:17) recorded Top 10 finishes at Nos. 7 and 9, respectively.
Butler (20:43) came in 16th, Meade placed 28th (22:18), and McLendon (22:41) had the 30th best time.
The UC girls barely missed accompanying their boys’ counterparts, finishing three points out of third place as a team.
Wagoner, a freshman, was fourth overall with a time of 23:14 to punch her state ticket.
Other Union City runners included Kaitlyn Lamb (16th, 24:14), Lizzy Jones (18th, 24:28), Chloe Meade (23rd, 25:17) and Jorge Frankum (37th, 27:18).
The state girls’ race is set to begin at 2 p.m. on Nov. 5, while the boys will run immediately following at 2:45.
MIDDLE SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Martin 40, UC 20 (G)
UC 59, Martin 28 (B)
The Tornado boys improved to 3-0 and salvaged a doubleheader split with a huge first half against visiting Martin.
UC bolted to a 25-6 first-quarter lead and widened that gap to 42-14 at the half.
No Twister starter played after the intermission.
Ben Kail and Tayehari Jones had 10 points apiece, while Copeland Chism scored nine and Deangelo Monroe had eight markers for the Purple and Gold. Kail drained three of Union City’s eight 3-pointers.
In the girls’ game, the Lady Tornadoes fell behind 10-3 after one and could never catch up.
It was 19-10 at halftime and 31-18 with three periods completed.
Debrionna Jones had nine points and Kennedi Robinson scored eight for UC, which fell to 1-2.
Union City plays at Northview Thursday.