by Charlie Hall ’27
October 2, 2024
Our fall sport student-athletes’ competitions are finally in full swing now, after a long summer of preparation. Here is a roundup of some of our fall sport teams and what it’s like to go to each of their competitions. This season promises to be exciting, with several standout athletes and teams to watch.
Golf team tees off for success
Coach Trent Boysen and the team welcomed me to come out to a competition on Monday, August 26th at the Tennessee Grasslands Golf and Country Club. It was a long bus ride out but the team and coaches were all excited to have someone writing and capturing photos of the team in competition.
It started with practice out on the driving range to warm up and get a preview of what the rest of the day would look like. At the same time, this is when the realization that lack of sunscreen would make for a long day with the team. Not a cloud in the sky with scorching 98-degree heat in the middle of a field was an interesting learning experience.
The driving range practice was a great opportunity to get some photos and videos of the team and I even got an interview with Lucia Gellert ‘27 who acknowledged that her summer training was not optimal.
“It was hard to find a lot of time in the summer to practice golf” with her busy schedule,” Gellert said.
However, there was a golf camp for us over the summer which was one of the main sources of offseason practice.
Gellert also joked that her goal for this competition was to shoot under a 19 on an 18-hole course. The team certainly likes to aim high!
In all seriousness, her goal for the season was to be more consistent with her scores.
Overall, fans should expect juniors on the 15-player roster to set a standard this fall and next year, as experienced seniors lead the team to even more succes.
“We have confidence in our position for success,” Gellert added.
Cross Country in the spotlight
One of the more visible sports here at USN had a meet on Saturday, August 24, at Sanders Ferry Park. The USN cross-country debut. Both of the cross-country teams are coming off as state runner-ups, and hopes are high that both teams will shoot for the top and win the state in 2024. It’s been a while since I’ve been at an XC meet. When my older sister ran, we would be all over the place, so it was quite nostalgic for me. It was a hot summer day so the races were at night.
The varsity boys are characterized by their youth.
“This is, undoubtedly, the youngest varsity we’ve had since 2002,” boys’ cross country coach George Flatau said. They are led by only two seniors, Clay Payne ‘25 and Caspar Schmidt ‘25.
Baxter is impressed with the young talent on the team. He says, “I think both the freshman Calebs [Freifeld and Little], are disgusting. I’ll run with them for the first two miles, and then they’ll just turn on the jets. I had no clue that they were that fast. I mean, you know, Drew Zwerner — he’s the fastest on our team right now.”
The team was already tired before the first meet, with three of the runners having already participated in other athletic competitions earlier in the weekend. The boys finished 19th out of 32 teams; however, at the Chickasaw Trails Invitational two weeks later, the boys took first place out of 32 teams. There are nine more races left in the season, and hopes are high for the team.
The boys team is not content to sit on their early season successes, however.
“I think there’s always more that can be done. But, you know, we’re in a good position right now. I think we can compete with any team in the state, and that’s what we do,” Baxter said. “We compete. We may not always win, but we’ll always make a good effort. I think we’re gonna win. I think we’re gonna win everything, everything.”
The next few years of this team will be exciting to keep track of as the young runners on both teams grow and improve. Baxter added that as the season progresses, he’s most excited about “seeing result because I know how hard everyone works in practice.”
“It’s nice to see all your hard work pay off,” he added.
Mountain biking looks for a big season on the trails
On Sunday, August 25, a mountain biking race occurred in Chickasaw Trace Park in Columbia, TN. Coach Steve Smail was very excited to have me there at the race and pointed out the best spots on the course for capturing photos of the athletes. I spoke with a few of the high school riders and then went to the start of the boys’ JV race.
The course traveled along the banks of the Duck River of Chickasaw Trace Park. The 4-mile loop featured a finishing climb up a grassy field, a flowy single track, and two open passing sections. I found myself standing alone in a field in Columbia, Tennessee—just me, my camera, and an unfortunate dead skunk. Some bikers posed for the camera while others rode on by. The course involved two laps of the loop so I got plenty of photos from standing in that one spot.
The overall environment was very similar to a high school cross-country meet. The teams had their tents set up, people brought games, music was playing, and there was even a snow cone truck. It’s not necessary to stay from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM to cheer on the team; however, it was an enjoyable experience and the most pleasurable of all the sports I’ve previewed. After a few races, I left in the middle of the sophomore race but talked to the team the following week, and they all seemed somewhat happy with their results.
Something I’m sure we all wondered about is whether it is possible to kick someone off their bike in the woods if nobody is watching. The team tried convincing me of all the reasons you couldn’t, such as supervisors along the track, but I never saw any. Overall, it seems the USN mountain biking team will continue to be rule followers this season.
I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunity to enjoy all these fall sports from the sidelines, especially after writing about their practices in the spring, watching from a distance without the pressure of having to compete myself. There are two more races left in the five-race season: October 6, and October 27. If you are interested in going to cheer on our Mountain biking team, you can find information about the location and race times on the USN website.
