Lebanon fares well in South Holston cross country meet

 John Ulrich and his friends went running this summer.

They ran across the fields at Lebanon High School, they ran up the hills at Lebanon Primary School, and they ran over the sidewalks in downtown Lebanon.

The journey continued for Ulrich and the Lebanon Pioneers on Saturday afternoon at the South Holston Dam.

On a foggy Saturday morning, Ulrich won the annual Run for the Hills cross country meet with a personal-best time of 16:59.

Ulrich credited Lebanon’s cross country coach Travis Hooker and track and field mentor Bob Weatherly for devising the successful formula.

"Our coaches give us tough workouts, and that gets us ready for meets like this," Ulrich said.

The summer routine for Ulrich included 5 to 8 miles of training runs per day. Ulrich entered the cross country season ranked second in Group A, and he lived up to the billing Saturday.

With a large contingent of Lebanon supporters cheering him on, Ulrich grabbed the lead with one mile remaining.

"I knew the guy from Radford would be there, but I didn’t think I would be able to beat him," Ulrich said.

Ulrich finished second in the 2009 Clinch Mountain District cross country meet and was third in Region D. The personal goal for Ulrich Saturday was to break the 17 minute barrier.

"The race went ideal and I accomplished my goal," Ulrich said. "It was pretty exciting."

Abingdon finished second in the team standings, as junior Phillip Studholme (17:34) and sophomore Tanner Cook (17:36) finished fourth and fifth respectively.

"Our top two runners performed excellent," AHS assistant coach Tommy Antenucci said. "Phillip is at least a minute faster than he was last year."

Lebanon’s Tabby Arwood also made a dramatic improvement en route to a runnerup finish behind a runner from Jefferson Forest. Arwood posted a time of 20:24 Saturday after running 21:55 last August at South Holston.

"Today was a lot better," Arwood said. "I love this course."

Arwood led the race until the graveyard portion of the scenic course.

"The girl from Jefferson Forest caught me going up the hill midway through the race," said Arwood, who also starts at guard for the Lebanon basketball team. "I was hoping to catch her, but I never really have a kick at the end. I’m working on that."

The resume for Arwood includes a 12th place finish in last year’s Group A cross country meet. She finished second in the 3,200 and sixth in the 1,600 in the Group A track and field meet.

"I ran and trained all summer for this," Arwood said.

Abingdon’s Madison Turner (21:10) finished third in the girls race to guide the AHS girls to a runner-up finish in the team standings.

Complete results were not available at press time.

After finishing second in the Southwest District meet last year, Turner experienced a nightmare when she encountered problems with her vision and balance halfway through the Region IV meet.

"I couldn’t see straight at one point," Turner said. "I don’t really know what happened, but I went to the hospital and the doctor said it might have been a migraine."

Despite her vision problems, Turner still managed to complete her race.

"I’ve been training a lot and I’ve gotten some more endurance over the summer," Turner said. "I felt pretty good, but I’ve still got some work to do. My goal this season is to make all-state."

Hooker also has lofty goals for his Lebanon squad, which returned every starter from last season.

"The state meet is absolutely our goal," Hooker said. "Lebanon won the state in track and finished in the top five last year. We’ve never been on the podium in cross country, but we’ve been building our program."

Hooker was not surprised by Ulrich’s crisp performance Saturday.

"John comes from a running family," Hooker said. "John’s sister is a rising star at the middle school level, and I knew he could run this well if he had the chance."

From the primary school to sidewalks, Hooker said his athletes have the perfect training ground.

"In cross country, nobody really wants to say what they are doing to train," Hooker said. "We’ve just got a regime that we stuck to, and we try to use all of Lebanon."

agregory@bristolnews.com | Twitter: @Greg_BHCSports | (276) 645-2544