By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
It was a season to remember – and one for the school record books – for the Union City High School boys’ cross country team.
The Golden Tornadoes capped a truly special fall campaign Thursday with a program-best-ever third-place finish in the Class 1A State Meet, held at Shelby Farms Park in Memphis.
UC – which won six regular-season meets and qualified for the state for the first time since 2020 – finished Thursday’s competition with 109 points, trailing only meet champion University School of Johnson City (69) and University High of Memphis (96) in a 16-team field. The Twisters’ previous best team finish at the state level was in 2019 when they placed sixth.
Senior Rushdon Howell and junior Woodrow McKinnis medaled for Union City, finishing 12th and 13th, respectively, among 127 runners. Howell posted a personal-best time of 17:09.76 (15 seconds faster than his previous best) in his final cross-country race. McKinnis, meanwhile, who made the state field as an individual last year, improved 17 places in the pecking order with a time of 17:23.26.
UC sophomore Ainsley Sadler also entered the school annals by earning a medal with a 15th-place finish in a field of 114 runners. It marked the highest placing ever by a Lady Tornado in the state competition and represented a spectacular 74-place jump from the previous season, when she finished 89th as a freshman.
Sadler’s time of 21:50.00 was also her personal best.
“What a fantastic showing by our kids!” Union City head coach Thel Taylor said of his troops afterward. “It’s a great feat to get here, and our kids worked extremely hard – both during the offseason and since the season began – to achieve what they did today.
“We had some physical challenges with injuries, beginning in the middle of the year, but I thought we really improved our speed with some offseason things we implemented from track and were able to pair those with endurance to make a big jump from last year.”
Freshmen twins Madix and Miloh Turner completed a strong first season on the varsity level for the Tornado boys, each posting their best times by placing 19th and 24th. Madix ran the 3.1-mile course in 17:42.55, while his sibling, Miloh, was clocked at 17:55.07.
Senior Owen Waggoner, in his first season in the sport, rounded out UC’s five finishers with a time of 19:48.52, which ranked 60th.
Bryce Daniels, a senior who joined the squad mid-season, placed 77th (20:30.85), while freshman Camden Watts (20:38.22) came in 81st for the Twisters.
Sophomore Ainsley Beard, who battled sickness, yet still completed the course with a gutsy effort, finished at 24:51.80 for 51st place for the Tornado girls.
“Every one of our kids gave us their best and what they had,” Taylor concluded. “As good as we were and as good as the season was, we can still get better and have areas where we certainly can improve.
“I want us to take what we’ve learned in the last couple of years, add in some promising kids coming from a very good middle school program, and make even bigger strides next year.”