GRAY - It was a banner day for Greene County Schools at the Region 1 A/AA Cross Country Meet at Daniel Boone High School on Thursday.

Four local schools advanced to the state and 12 individuals also punched their ticket to Brentwood by day's end. Chuckey-Doak is headed to state for the first time in cross country by virtue of its boys' team advancing in the 5K (3.1 mile) competition. Greeneville High is sending its girls and boys and the West Greene ladies made the field for the third successive year.

C-D head coach Beth Frye expressed appreciation for the community's support of her program entering the event. "There's been such an outpouring and I give credit to this team for a great accomplishment with the adversity they've faced," she said. "This was tough to do and historic with this being the first Chuckey-Doak team to go."

GHS is sending both its squads for the first time under fifth-year head coach Jeff Bloomer. "Both of our teams bonded and jelled and this is a great accomplishment for them," he said.

Senior Lady Devil Ashley Ellenburg (20:54.95) also gave Greene County a regional champion individually with a tight win over University High's Landry Loving (21:11.03). "It was a little muddy and warm but I really like this course and definitely hope to finish better than the 20s at the state, which is pretty much what I've done there in the past (in three previous appearances).."

Lady Devils' sophomore Paige Bible was third (22:02.65) in her first year of running cross country. Greeneville junior Jillian Valk (22:23.60) also advances with an eight-place finish. The top 10 from the region individually move on to the final level of competition.

The West Greene girls made it a three-peat with another trip to the state meet. "The girls showed great heart, dug down, and realized what they could do," said Lady Buffs' head man Daniel Thompson.

A pair of WG freshmen also qualified for the state meet. Sierra McIntosh (22:11.94) narrowly edged out her teammate Macy Parham (22:15.52) for sixth. "I'm really excited about getting there," McIntosh said. "We're glad to get the chance to go and hope to do very well."

For West Greene, Maryann Murphy was 14th and Sherry Turner 16th.

South Greene senior Brittney Brown (22:05.09) made state individually for the second consecutive year by coming in fourth. "The heat slowed me a little but I feel pretty good about the way today went and hope to run well down there and make all-state (top 15)."

"We're only in our fourth year as a program and she and Amanda Bowman (who finished 17th) have pretty much been the foundation," said Lady Rebels' head coach Scott Phillips.

University High won on the girls side with a 43 ranking. Greeneville was second with a 62 in just nipping West Greene at 63. The top three teams advance to the state meet. South Greene was fifth at 109, just behind Elizabethton at 108.

Chuckey-Doak's Krystal Pridemore finished in the 19th position.

The Greeneville and Chuckey-Doak boys each placed three boys in the top 10. Greene Devils' junior Dylan Jones (17:14.42) makes it to Brentwood with a runner-up finish. University High's Carter McVeigh (16.57.54) took first-place honors. Jones also made the state field a season ago in AAA.

"It was really hot out there today compared to when we were in the Trailblazer here earlier but the traction was better," Jones explained. "Now I'd like to try to make the top 10 at the state."

Freshman Wesley King was fourth (17:48.01) and junior Derek Gibson ended up in the fifth position (17:53.70).

For the Black Knights, freshman Simeon Roberts (17:54.75) finished sixth, junior Josiah Roberts (18:02.50) eighth and sophomore Lawson Burrow (18:05.51) was ninth.

Josiah Roberts, who advances for the second time, said it's special to move on along with his brother. "This is a big accomplishment for us and this team and I feel we ran pretty well today and tried to step up and do our best."

University High won the boys meet with a ranking of 41 and Greeneville was a close second at 46. Chuckey-Doak finished with a 66. Elizabethton was fourth with 119 and West Greene fifth at 125.

The top finisher for the West Greene boys was Alex Smyth who came in 14th. Leading the South Greene boys was Justin Brown who was 33rd.

The TSSAA Cross Country Meet is scheduled for Nov. 7 at Percy Warner Steeplechase Park.