NASHVILLE -- It was hot and dry and dusty at the Percy Warner Park on Saturday morning and those conditions had an adverse effect on individual times, but the Baylor girls finished second overall with 121 points.
Knox Catholic was the winner with 83 with Baylor second. Oak Ridge was third with 130 while GPS was fourth with 144 out of 20 scoring teams.
Carley Braman was the leading runner for the Bruisers as she finished second overall in 20:18 behind Mt. Juliet's Jalyn Jenkins, who won with a time of 19:51.
Allison Anderson was Baylor's leader as she finished 11th in 21:50. Emrick Garrett was 26th in 22:57 while teammates Ashlyn Celichowski was 29th in 23:04, Merrit Newton 31st in 23:19 and Sydney Cansler 32nd in 23:21.
Kate McVay was the second finisher for GPS as she placed ninth in 21:37. Rebecca Torrence was 15th in 22:30 while Mary Margaret Arrowsmith claimed 36th in 23:42 and Ella Ensign 97th in 27:55.
"It was extremely hot and dusty as you might expect for the dry weather we've been having and that caused the times to be off today," said Baylor coach Heather Ott late Saturday afternoon.
"On days like today, you have to measure performance based on effort and not time, but our effort was there today and I'm really proud of the way we ran. Addison Smith and Catherine Cansler were missing today, but the other girls stayed focused on running strong as a group," Ott added.
Baylor will travel to Louisville next weekend for the Trinity Balkyrie Cross Country Classic.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)