Duble, Coniglio Victorious Despite Heat And Humidity
by John Hunt
posted August 20, 2008
With the heat and humidity its typical high in the middle of August, it’s hard to believe that high school cross country season has started.
That’s exactly the case as several hundred high school runners gathered at the Chickamauga Dam recreation area for the annual Chattanooga Cross Country League Jamboree early Tuesday evening.
The boys raced at 6 while the girls took off at 6:30. Both races were only two miles instead of the customary three.
Those were about the only advantages going in favor of the competitors.
While there were no official results and no team scores were kept, most runners were cautious in their approach.
Their times at the finish line reflected the sweltering heat and late-afternoon humidity.
A couple of seniors from Chattanooga Christian were the individual winners with Matt Coniglio posting the best time of the day as he crossed the finish line in 10 minutes, 49 seconds.
Jessica Duble proved she is fit and ready for her final prep season in cross country as she set the pace for the girls, leading from the start to win with a time of 12 minutes, 40 seconds.
Jake Bradley, a senior running for Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe, set the early pace and had the advantage for the first half.
While Coniglio was conservative on the uphills, he turned on the jets going down and Bradley had to settle for the runner-up spot in 11:21.
Northwest Whitfield’s Leighton Steadman was third in 11:38 while Soddy Daisy’s Jake Fien and Northwest Whitfield’s A.J. Meyers also broke the 12-minute barrier with times of 11:54 and 11:59 to finish fourth and fifth, respectively.
While Coniglio held back early and waited to make his move to the front, that wasn’t the case for Duble, who knows just a little about leading and winning big races.
The two-time defending A-AA state champ took the lead as soon as the horn sounded and never looked back.
Johanna Gartman, a 15-year-old home-schooled sophomore, had Duble within reach for the first mile, but never caught her and finished a strong second in 12:55.
The GPS trio of Nandia Taylor, Rachel Smith and Hutton Baird followed with times of 13:32, 14:05 and 14:22, respectively.
Coniglio hardly slowed down after he crossed the finish line as he headed straight for the lake where he took a celebratory dip to cool off.
He was back at the picnic tables in the shade shortly afterward and had a chance to reflect on his final first cross country race of the season.
“I think the first mile was short because I’ve never gone out that fast. I really didn’t have a goal, although I still wanted to win.
"Even though this was a jamboree and I ran a conservative race, I didn’t want to do anything crazy,” he expressed while the girls were running.
“I wanted to do the uphills as easy as possible and then go hard down. I had been following him (Bradley) as we went up the hill, but I passed him on the way down and he never caught me.
“It’s tough to race on this course this early in the season, especially with the heat.
"I feel like I’m in pretty good shape, bat as far as being race-ready, I still have a long way to go,” he added, noting that he ran 55 miles last week.
Bradley is the Region 7-AAAA defending champion in cross country. He used Tuesday’s race as a measuring stick for his current level of fitness.
“The race went pretty good until we got to that hill. Matt came by me as we were going down and I couldn’t catch him. I’m happy with my time, but I was hoping to have a better place.
“My goal was to run hard and just see what I’m capable of doing. I’m pleased with my effort,” the slender senior said later.
Duble is looking for a three-peat at the state in November, but for a hot, muggy day in August, she was satisfied with the results.
“I felt pretty strong for it being the first race of the season. I felt pretty strong the whole way and that’s encouraging, but it’s nice to run two miles before we jump into the longer distance,” she said afterward.
“It seems like there’s always pressure to win, but it was nice to experience the excitement of racing once again.
"I wanted to see how my legs would respond. Not many people like this course, but it’s one of my favorites. I like the hills and have always done well on hilly courses,” she added.
Gartman may be a relative newcomer for cross country, but triathlons are her first love and she proved on Aug. 8 she’s pretty good when you throw in a swim and a bike ride before you run.
She was in Colorado Springs and finished third in the Youth Elite National Championship where she had to swim 400 meters, bike 12 miles and run 1.6 miles.
No question her times will drop when the temperatures fall, but she was happy with her results on Tuesday.
“It was so hot, but I was pleased to get in the top five. I stayed with her (Duble) for a while, but she kept pulling away and I couldn’t catch her.
"I’ve been training for triathlons all summer, so I haven’t done as much running as I should,” Gartman smiled.
Chattanooga Christian coach Mike Fingerle couldn’t help but be exceedingly happy after his best two runners both emerged victorious.
“You always wonder what will happen to these kids when they get to their senior year, but both have worked hard all summer and they’ve put in their share of miles in the heat.
"They don’t want to disappoint themselves or their teammates,” the coach said while his runners just relaxed and chit-chatted among themselves.
“We should have a pretty good team this year as we picked up some pretty good freshmen. Our older guys are in fair condition, but they’ve spent a lot of time this summer on mission trips and stuff like that, so today they just wanted to survive.
“They get fired up with a race like this, though it’s really too early in the season to be racing.
"It’s hard to tell what you have when the heat is so intense, but we had good grouping with our girls and I was pleased about that. We still have a lot more work to do yet,” he added.
Tuesday’s races had runners from at least 13 Tennessee schools and at least three Georgia schools.
Among those represented in addition to Chattanooga Christian, LFO, GPS, Soddy Daisy and Northwest Whitfield were Ooltewah, Sequatchie County, Hixson, Grace Academy, Central, Polk County, Boyd-Buchanan, Red Bank, Silverdale Baptist Academy, David Brainerd and Ridgeland.
The next league race is scheduled for Sept. 11 at Fletcher Park in Cleveland.
The season concludes for Tennessee teams with the TSSAA State Meet on Nov. 1 at the Percy Warner Park in Nashville.
(Email John Hunt at tnmoose2002@aol.com)
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