By CAROL STUART
For Brentwood Home Page

This could be the year the Brentwood High boys hoist the boys cross country championship trophy, while the Ravenwood girls are among contenders to bring home their first girls' title.

RHS junior Conley Chitwood will be among the top competitors individually, along with the core of the BHS team -- Ryan Gadsey, Nathan Thomas and Paul Stuart.

Junior Erika Peoples heads up the Lady Raptors team, and the junior class is also strong for the Lady Bruins team.

RHS' Erika Peoples

Brentwood High will have some of the most exciting freshmen in the state -- on both the boys and girls teams.

Brentwood Academy's Allison Cheeseman was eighth in the state as an eighth-grader. The BA boys return one of their all-state runners.

Boys cross country

Brentwood:  The Bruins have back three of the state's top 20 runners from last season, with senior Ryan Gadsey (16:58, 17th) and juniors Nathan Thomas (17:03, 18th) and Paul Stuart (17:05, 20th).

Although losing two seniors including state track champion Ford Bell, BHS is also adding fabulous freshman twins Aaron and Alec Thomas, Nathan's brothers. Alec has already run a sub-18:00 on the roads this summer.

Brentwood won both the district and region in 2009 and finished sixth in the state. The Bruins also won the Southeast XC Showdown in Hoover, Ala., against 18 elite teams from Alabama-Kentucky-Tennessee-Georgia; ran first among 16 teams in the Kenwood Classic; and finished second by two points among 26 teams from Kentucky and West Virginia in the Greater Louisville Classic.

Also back are juniors Grant Seckman, who was 15th in the Southeast meet, and Sam Hughes.

"Five returning varsity runners should provide some stability along with talented but unproven underclassmen for 2010," said third-year coach Dave Rowe.

Rowe says the team has a minimum expectation of top 5 finish at state, with a realistic goal of a state title.

Seniors Scotty Wild and Daniel Caplan are first-year runners who will compete for varsity spots along with Daniel Cerrato, Oliver Moore and Rahib Bashir. 

 The Bruins get out of the gate with the District All-comer meet on Sept. 8 at Franklin's Harlinsdale Farm. BHS will also run in the Powerade Invitational in Chattanooga and the Tennessee Classic in Nashville, as well as the Louisville and Hoover out-of-state meets again.

Houston, Oak Ridge, Morristown West and Station Camp should be top teams the Bruins will face in the state, Rowe said.

Click here for schedule.

Ravenwood: The Raptors will be led by Conley Chitwood (best time, 17:02), who last year as a sophomore was District 11-AAA champion and placed in the top 10 in the county and region.

After finishing fourth in the region, Coach Pete Mueller expects to get an infusion of talent this year from Riley Hadden,

RHS' Conley Chitwood

Morgan Greener, Daniel Lowe, Quinn Avirom, Trevor Phillips, Will Ezzard and Justin Karle.

Mueller, in his third year at RHS and 12th season coaching, has a lot of depth and a young team, but is "hoping to surprise other teams and finish top ten in state."

Brentwood and Independence will be the teams to beat, the coach said.

Click here for schedule.

Brentwood Academy: John Baker, 12th at the DII-AA state meet last year, comes back for his senior season, but BA will miss fifth-place Sam Roberson, whose family moved to Raleigh, N.C.

Both Baker and Roberson were all-state for the Eagles, who finished sixth in the state and third at the Midstate championships.  Brady Slinkard, Paul Clymer and John Yarbrough joined the duo as All-Midstate Conference, and BA also loses Clymer to graduation.

Junior Braxton Knight is joining the team after playing football until this season, and junior Benjamin Ware is a transfer to BA. Freshmen Garrett and Andrew Bull are also expected to make an impact.

Coach Marshall Smith is in his 12th season with the team, taking over in 2005 after assisting Charlie Harper through '04. Smith expects to have a "nice pack of guys," with quality depth in 12 spots, but says the team lacks a strong frontrunner and will be inexperienced.

The Eagles' toughest competition in DII should come from MBA, and from Oakland, Station Camp and Independence in the Midstate Conference.

Click here for schedule.

Ravenwood:  All-state performer Erika Peoples, who was A.F. Bridges and Williamson County champion in 2009, is just a junior and heads up a veteran team that finished third in the state in Class AAA last season.

Peoples, with a season best of 19:54, was also all-Midstate, all-region, all-county and all-district. Joining her back are three other all-region runners: fellow junior Rachel Spinden (20:31) and seniors Sarah Jenner (20:44) and Allie Arnette (20:46). All four were Top 20 in the Class AAA state meet, with Peoples highest at 14th.

Eleanor Leffler (21:41) and Rue Reynolds (22:00) were freshmen last year on the team which won District 11-AAA, Region 6-AAA and the Williamson County championship.

Mueller was the Region 6-AAA girls coach of the year and hopes his strong team will challenge again at the district, county, region and state meets.

The Lady Raptors' one big loss is Mary Kate Collins, who was fifth at state.  But Abby Finnegan, Becca Roberts and Andi Williams will be added to the mix this season.

Click here for schedule.

Brentwood:  Junior Katherine Schenck finished third in the region meet last season, and freshman Elizabeth Scott joins the team and is projected as one of the top runners in the state.

The BHS girls had their best effort of 2009 at the region, where they claimed second and qualified for state. Juniors Allison O'Neill (14th), Emily Thornton (15th), Anne Ramsey (20th) and Brittany Alexander (22th), as well as sophomore Emily Glasgow (16th), are also back from the Top 25 at the region.

Schenck had the best finish at state with a 21:07 at 29th, plus finished 22nd out of 187 runners in the Louisville Classic, posting a 20:31.

First-year runners include seniors Avery Lipman and Maegan Neufeldt who will be competing for a varsity slot along with dual-sport athletes Casey Enright and Meg Howard. Thornton, Enright and Howard also play soccer.

The Lady Bruins, under third-year coach Kelly Rowe, also were fifth in the Powerade Invitational in Chattanooga and the Kenwood Classic in Clarksville last year.

"Expectations are elevated this year with a top 10 finish at state as a goal," Rowe said. "Schenck has battled injuries for the last year and will need to be healthy to help the girls reach their goal."

Top competition should come from Oak Ridge, Knoxville Catholic, Ravenwood, Dobyns-Benett and Science Hill.

Click here for schedule.

Brentwood Academy: Only two runners return from last year's varsity team, which won the Preseason and Midstate Conference meets and was runner-up at the UTC Powerade Invitational, AF Bridges Invitational, Jesse Owens Classic, Williamson County Championships.

But Allison Cheeseman, daughter of Coach Cathy Cheeseman, was eighth in the state meet last year for all-state honors and will be only a freshman. Jaclyn Helton returns for her senior season after earning all-conference honors last year.

The Lady Eagles will be without Samantha Wilson, a three-time all-state performer and four-year All-Conference recipient, who won the Markie Voyles Classic in 2009.

Also gone are Harris Slinkard, all-state performer and two-year all-conference runner; Harris Slinkard, a two-time top 25 performer and four-year all-conference; and junior Kaylor Murray, who was all-conference her first two seasons. The team finished fifth at the Division II championships.

"Our veteran runners are poised to move into leadership roles to ensure this team will achieve at its highest level possible," said Cathy Cheeseman, coach since 1997. "That said, this season looks to be a rebuilding year with many opportunities for both our novice and JV runners to gain valuable varsity experience."

Among those vying for the top seven varsity positions are seniors Kate Girone, Sarah Jordan Priest and Lauren Smith; juniors Britta Ristau, Nikki Kocina, Courtney Fadler and Paige Shelby; and freshmen Savannah Koehn and Abigail Berthiaume.

Two-time state champion Baylor, which loses only one runner to graduation and returns the individual state champ, will be the team to beat statewide again, Cheeseman said. Harpeth Hall and Ensworth traditionally are top competitors in the Midstate and are expected to be tough again this season.

Click here for schedule.