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All MKXC Women’s Team 2024

Carolina Areheart – Webb – JR – All Metro 1st team

3 individual wins including the Valkyrie Invitational in Louisville

7 top 5s including 2nd @ KIL, 3rd @ D2AA State

Also finished 6th @ FL South and 2nd @ NXN SE

17:02 PR @ NXN SE

Campbell Asti – West – FR – All Metro 2nd team

4 top 10s

2 top 5s including first individual win @ the Roane State All Comers Meet.

8th overall @ KIL

4th @ Region 2 AAA

45th @ State and the 5th fastest freshman

19:42 PR @ KIL

Ana Berkheimer – Hardin Valley – SO – All Metro 2nd team

This was Ana’s first season of running

3 top 10s including 9th @ KIL

2nd @ Region 2 AAA

After running a 22:55 and placing 46th at the Victor Ashe Fall Classic, finished 2nd at Regionals (dropping over 2 1/2 minutes off her first attempt at the VAP course)

28th @ State in 19:34

19:31 PR

Caitlin Daniels – Catholic – FR – All Metro 2nd team

3 top 15s

1 top 10

6th @ KIL with a PR

14th @ D2AA State the 11th fastest time amongst all freshman, improving her time from the start of the season by nearly 2 minutes.

19:19 PR

Calysta Garmer – Webb – JR – All Metro 1st team

5 top 10s

4 top 5s including 4th @ KIL and 1st @ D2AA State

17:33 PR

Jazzlyn Garmer – Webb – JR – All Metro 1st team

6 top 10s

4 top 5s including 1st @ KIL and 2nd @ D2AA State

Sub 18 in all races except for 2 (18:04 & 18:05)

Also finished 7th at both NXN SE and FL South (where she ran her PR)

17:16 PR

Drew Gerken – Catholic – FR – All Metro 1st team

6 top 10s

2 top 5s

10th @ KIL

8th @ D2AA State

Finished with the second fastest time amongst all freshman in the state

18:20 PR

Dylan Job – Oak Ridge – JR – All Metro 2nd team

3 top 5s at Norris, Cherokee, and The Mounds

1 individual win @ Mounds #1 and setting the first course record there

Also, 20th place at Southern Showcase in Huntsville

18:16 PR

Ava Moody – Anderson Co. – JR – All Metro 1st team

7 top 5’s including 3rd @ Southern Showcase in Huntsville

5 individual wins including Region 2 A/AA and State A/AA

Course record holder at The Mounds

17:38 PR

Livi Ray – Catholic – FR – All Metro 2nd team

4 top 10s

2 top 5s including 5th @ KIL

9th @ D2AA State with 4th fastest time among all freshman

18:43 PR

Emma Roberts – Maryville – SR – All Metro 1st team

7 top 10s

5 top 5s

4 wins including Blount County Championships and Region 3 AAA

20th @ State AAA

18:29 PR

Avery Jo Thomas – Heritage – JR – All Metro 2nd team

5 top 10s

3 top 5s including 2nd @ Blount Co. Championships and 2nd @ Region 3 AAA Champs.

27th @ AAA State

18:55 PR – school record

Ariana Vargas – Webb – SO – All Metro 2nd team

3 top 10s including 7th @ KIL

15th @ D2AA State

Finished 5th overall in the freshman/sophomore race @ Footlocker South

19:15 PR

Alexandra Vesser – Hardin Valley – SO – All Metro 1st team

3 top 5s including 3rd @ KIL and 1st @ Region 2 AAA

19th @ AAA State

She lead her team to a 2nd Place finish @ KIL, 1st place @ Region, and a 5th Place @ State

18:29 PR

by Coach Ed Wright

Hall of Fame 2024: Sarah Damen

I’m here tonight to introduce one of the finest athletes that ORHS has ever produced. Let me tell you a little bit about her accomplishments as a runner, as a student and nurse, and as a person.

She was a member of our girls’ cross-country team during one of the best 5 year runs in our proud history. She ran in 14th place on the 1997 State Runner up team; 16th place on the 1998 State Runner-Up team; 15th place on the 1999 State Champion team; and State Champion with a time of 17:40 for three miles on the 2000 State Runner Up team.

Counting the 1996 State Champion team, this five-year run gave ORHS 2 State Champion teams and 3 Runner-Up finishes. The 2000 State Champion Cross Country team is the only undefeated team in ORHS history, winning the Kingsport, Tennessee Classic, Great American, and Furman Invitational championships, and the Region 2 championship.

In addition to her 2000 State Cross Country Championship, she won 4 State Track championships, winning the 3200 meters in 1999 and 2000, the 1600 in 2000 and 2001. The year 2000 saw her win the 3200 and 1600 and finish 2nd in the 800 in track and then win the individual state championship in cross country. That’s quite a year.

She went on to star at Belmont University in Nashville in both sports, track and cross country, winning the Presidential Scholar Athlete her senior year. She won multiple All-Conference awards and academic All-Conference awards at Belmont. She continues to run to this day, now specializing in marathons, triathlons, and ultra distance races.

She has a nursing degree from Belmont and a Masters in Nursing from Vanderbilt University and worked for a decade in women’s health and fetal medicine. She also has taken medical mission trips to Ghana, Moldova, Romania, and Mexico.

She is married to Josh Thurman, and the mother of 5 children with the 6th coming next month. She lives in Franklin, Tennessee, just south of Nashville.

I give you an amazing athlete, student, professional, wife and mother, Sarah Damen Thurman.

by Coach Jim McNamee