The three Marshall County cross country teams met for the fourth and last time this season on Thursday at Henry Horton State Park in a final tune up before the region tournaments.

The highlight of the Best of Marshall Meet was the dominating performance by Forrest sophomore Jaedyn Stalnecker, who finished almost two minutes in front of Marshall County’s Guadalupe Molina.

Stalnecker, who moved from Los Angeles to attend Forrest Middle School, has won all seven cross country meets she has entered this season.

“I’m always striving to be better than last year, I want to get better and faster every year,” Stalnecker said. “I was coming in to the year with high hopes that I would get faster by focusing and relying on my training that it would all work, so I was just waiting on these results.”

“I want to win region this season, over quarantine I was training really hard.”

Stalnecker finished in 11th place in the 3200 meter run at MSCCA Middle School Championships in her seventh-grade season and moved up six spots to fifth place in eighth-grade.

In 2019, Stalnecker won her first varsity meet at Henry Horton in September and continued to improve throughout the season that led to more success, finishing in second place in the region meet at Percy Warner Park in Nashville.

“She has won every meet we have been in this year, some meets by a few seconds, others by a couple minutes,” Forrest coach Josh Webb said. “When I met Jaedyn a few years ago I noticed there was something different about her drive. She is one that never settles. We are looking forward to watching her and her teammates break barriers over the next couple of years.”

The second place finish earned Stalnecker a spot in the TSSAA State Tournament at Steeplechase in Nashville where she finished in fourth place, running a time of 20:41.92, just 15 seconds behind state champion Fairview freshman Alyssa Andrea.

Andrea also won the 2019 region meet in front of Stalnecker.

Stalnecker came in to Thursday’s meet with six straight wins and turned in a time of 21:18:00 on the 5,000 meter Henry Horton Course, which she hopes to better this week in Division I, Small Class, Region 6 Meet on Friday at Henry Horton State Park (HHSP).

“I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied,” Stalnecker said about her time at HHSP. “I am always striving to be better.”

“Jaedyn had a decent time Thursday,” Webb added. “She shaved off 3:32 off her time from the first race we had at HHSP in September. I know her, and I know that she wants to be sub 20 at HHSP.”

Stalnecker’s personal best was 19:46:73 just two weeks prior at Henry Horton while Andrea ran a 19:19:45 at the Jesse Owens Invitational in Alabama on October 3.

The two sophomore heavyweights have not faced each other this season but will lock horns at 9 a.m. on Friday at Henry Horton and Stalnecker is looking forward to the challenge.

“I think it will be good because we’ve been training on this course, so I know when to kick it up at what parts and remember where the hills are at when I struggle,” Stalnecker said. “In region and state I always see her (Andrea), she is my biggest competition.”

“It’s all about digging deep and getting past that pain, because it’s always going to be hard and tough, so like my dad says go 100 in practice so your 100 becomes your 50 in the race.”

Webb added, “I believe that we will witness a great race between Alyssa and Jaedyn. I know I am looking forward to these two battling it out throughout the race. Alyssa is a great runner.”

“If someone wants to see some competition, the last stretch of the race will be a great place to watch as these two battle it out in the last tenth of a mile.”

Marshall County High School won the team portion of Thursday’s meet at Henry Horton in both the boys and the girls as their combined times were both six minutes faster than second place Forrest.

“Both our girls and boys teams did well at the Best of Marshall meet,” Webb said. “Out of 13 runners, we had 12 that beat their last times at Henry Horton and we had three of our girls place in the top 10 and four of our boys.”

“I believe that if we would have had our runners that have been contact traced at school we would have had at least three more in the top 10. However, we have some room to improve before the regional race on Friday.”

The top finishers for Cornersville were freshman Camy Forsyth, who finished in 14th while senior Bulldog Eli Hinds came to the finish line in fifth place.

All three schools qualified for their respective region events and the top 10 individuals along with the top two teams will qualify for the 2020 TSSAA Cross Country State Championships at Sanders Ferry Park in Hendersonville on November 6.

Marshall County senior Zack Sheppard won his first meet of the season on Thursday at Henry Horton, coming to the finish line with a time of 18:24.00, just under a minute ahead of teammate Krew Capps.

“Being a senior, this means a lot to me, it’s probably the most important race to me of all of them,” Sheppard said. “I started off rough my freshman year, it’s been going up and down like a roller coaster, but I’m getting better for next week.”

Forrest and Cornersville are in the Small Class while MCHS Tigers compete in the Division I, Large Class.

“The region is a lot harder than all these normal meets we go to,” Sheppard said. “There is way more competition, there are faster people and you have to push yourself harder and think differently when you go in there.”

“If I make it I’m going to be proud of myself, If I don’t it is what it is.”

The Region 4 meet was held on October 27 and Sheppard ran his final high school race, finishing in 23rd place on the Richard Siegel Soccer Complex tract in Murfreesboro.

Best of Marshall Meet

Thursday, October 22

Henry Horton State Park

Finish Name Grade School Time

1 Jaedyn Stalnecker 10 Forrest 21:18.00

2 Guadalupe Molina 11 Marshall County 23:14.00

3 Justina Mosley 11 Forrest 24:29.00

4 Brady Phillips 11 Marshall County 24:32.00

5 Kamaria Johnson 9 Marshall County 25:00.00

6 Kamea Johnson 9 Marshall County 25:12.00

7 Olivia Ferris 11 Marshall County 25:26.00

8 Kendall Adams 10 Marshall County 25:47.00

9 Marysa Edde 11 Forrest 26:02.00

10 Abbie Collins 11 Marshall County 26:27.00 0

11 Makynlee Amis 11 Marshall County 28:17.00

12 Hannah Villazon 12 Forrest 28:50.00

13 Amber Sanchez 10 Forrest 29:00.00

14 Camy Forsyth 9 Cornersville 29:31.00

15 Saryna Kurtz 12 Forrest 30:08.00

16 Elizabeth Beasley 10 Marshall County 30:42.00

17 Maddie Stalnecker 9 Forrest School 31:22.00

18 Sophia Pigg 10 Marshall County 31:49.00

19 Jillian Farley 9 Marshall County 34:00.00

20 Hana Nagai 9 Marshall County 35:04.00

Team Scores

1 Marshall County (Time: 2:03:24).

2 Forrest Total (Time: 2:09:39).

Boys

Finish Name Grade School Time

1 Zack Sheppard 12 Marshall County 18:24.00

2 Krew Capps 11 Marshall County 19:19.00

3 CJ Sanchez 12 Forrest 19:38.00

4 Tyler Baxter 8 Forrest 19:48.00

5 Eli Hinds 12 Cornersville 19:56.00

6 Joseph Beasley 12 Marshall County 20:52.00

7 McKinley Allen 11 Marshall County 21:04.00

8 Braden Vanderploeg 11 Forrest 22:47.00

9 Gavin Allen 12 Forrest 23:15.00

10 Dorian Jackson 12 Marshall County 23:26.00

11 Cayden Flickinger 11 Marshall County 23:27.00

12 Carlos Alvarez 12 Marshall County 23:39.00

13 Nyles Taylor 9 Forrest School 24:14.00

14 Zach Schnapp 9 Forrest School 24:58.00

15 Caleb White 10 Cornersville 25:53.00

16 Carter Neat 10 Cornersville 26:53.00

17 Sam Polk 9 Cornersville 28:23.00

Team Scores

1 Marshall County (Time: 1:43:05)

2 Forrest (Total Time: 1:49:42).