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INTERVIEWS
08.05.07: SEAN KEVEREN | National high school cross-country champ, Kathy Kroeger, may have sat this track season out, but Brentwood's Sean Keveren helped keep the national prep spotlight on the Volunteer State by posting some very impressive times. Despite getting off to a somewhat late start this spring due to a hip flexor problem, Keveren went And then he really got rolling. A solo 4:11.41 Mile at the Music City Distance Carnival came the following week, and then two weeks later he placed 7th at the Nike Outdoor National meet in Greensboro,NC, clocking 8:55.16 over 2 miles. That makes him the second fastest prep 2-miler in Tennessee history (behind Brentwood Academy's Andrew Bumbalough), and, of greater note, the fastest returning 2-miler in the nation. Keveren enters his senior year at Brentwood High School unbeaten by a Tennessean at any distance, on any surface, since May 2006. It's a streak he intends to extend as he takes aim at Andrew Bumbalough's state records and a national title of his own. [more] 05.03.07: AUSTIN WEAVER | Nashville native, Austin Weaver, was the overall winner of the 2007 Country Music Half-Marathon, marking the first time a Tennessean has won the event. Running with the elite men's marathon until the two races diverged, the 23-year-old clocked a speedy 69 minutes, 18 seconds. His time was A stand-out runner while prepping at Franklin Road Acadamy, Weaver, following in the footsteps of older sister Keely (who went on to be an NCAA All-American over 10,000m while at Belmont), won eight individual State titles. He went on to run collegiately for Notre Dame, where he struggled with injuries, constantly having to prove himself to make the traveling seven on a top-25 nationally-ranked team. After graduating in 2006, Weaver discovered he could use a fifth year of NCAA eligibility running for Vanderbilt University, while pursuing his MBA at the Owen School of Business. [more] 04.18.07: JAMES GILREATH | This coming Saturday in Knoxville, the Volunteer Track Classic will host, what many regard, as the greatest high school boys' 800-meter field ever assembled on Tennessee soil. The stage will be the University of Tennessee's Tom Black track, where Bartlett High senior, James Gilreath, a recent Baylor University signee, will try, not only to win, but also to break the Tennessee boys' state 800-meter record. Gilreath defeated a strong 800 field in the Mobile Meet of Champions, clocking 1:51.39 in cool, breezy conditions earlier this month. Bookending that fine 800-meter run, Gilreath clocked 16:10 for 5K cross-country in the fall, and he has also recorded sizzling times of 47.43 in the 400 and 21.91 in the 200 this season. Vol Classic Meet Director Marty Sonnenfeldt anticipates a barn burner. “At present, we have three entries with legit sub-1:52 800 times,” said Sonnenfeldt. “If the weather is favorable, it would not surprise me to see a sub 1:50." [more] 03.13.07: ANTHONY CHIULLI | Twenty-one year old Colorado University junior Anthony Chiulli may be one of the most versatile collegiate runners in the country. He recently won his first Big 12 conference title in Ames, Iowa. Front-running his way to an emphatic victory in the 1000 meters, Chiulli clocked a very impressive time of 2:21.82, just four seconds away from David Krummencker's U.S indoor record over the (admittedly) rarely-run distance. Unfortunately, there is no 1000-meter run at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville,AR this weekend, and Chiulli will not be competing. He ran in the Alex Wilson last chance meet at Notre Dame, but fell well short of the automatic qualifying mark in the mile, clocking 4:05.34. Earlier in the year he clocked 4:03.82. The Memphis native, who was a 4-time state champion while at Christian Brothers High School, now has his sights set on making a splash at NCAAs outdoors. Last year, as a redshirt sophomore, after placing 3rd in the Big 12 1500, he made it to the big dance by virtue of his 7th place finish in a sit 'n' kick 1500m at the Mid-West Regional meet. But he ran poorly in his heat at nationals and failed to advance. In 2007, a year stronger, a year wiser, and with his injury woes seemingly well behind him, Chiulli is widely expected to lower his PRs and make a splash at the national level. [more] 02.21.07: FASIL BIZUNEH | Fasil Bizuneh has been on a tear lately. After PRing at 02.13.07: ALLIE BOHANNON | Twenty-year-old Allie Bohannon, a UCLA redshirt sophomore, was a promising, but not outstanding, cross-country runner while
12.10.06: KATHY KROEGER | TR talked to Kathy Kroeger the day after she won the Foot Locker National High School Cross-Country title in San Diego. Apart from the Foot Locker South Regional in Charlotte, North Carolina, Kathy Kroeger from
11.11.06: FASIL BIZUNEH | Fasil Bizuneh attended Arizona State University,
11.07.06: ALAN HORTON | At the Chicago Marathon on October 22nd, Knoxville’s
11.03.05: BRAD POLLEY | With two miles remaining in the men's race at last week's Atlantic Sun Conference Cross-Country Championship, held on the
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unbeaten by a Tennessean all year, easily won the AAA 1600 and 3200-meter races at the State Meet, and helped Brentwood High to their first boys' team title.
particularly impressive given that it was his first ever race longer than 10 miles, and a tight hamstring forced him to slow considerably in the last two miles. 
Bookending his 1500m PR of 3:42.54 (which is worth almost precisely 4 minutes for a mile), he has clocked 24:57 for 8K cross-country, and he regularly splits 48 seconds over 400 meters when called up for relay duty by the Buffs. 
prepping at Harpeth Hall. She showed great ability over 800 meters and 1600 meters, but had a tough time keeping it going over 3 miles. At the state cross-country meet, she was 7th as a freshman in 2000, 6th as a sophomore, 8th as a junior, and then 16th as a senior in 2003, her senior year. Not what you would call a meteoric rise; not even steady progress. Just consistency near, but not at, the top of the private school runners in a state that was languishing well behind most of the eastern United States. On the track, though, she fared much better. And it was in the spring that she would display her full range of talents, for Allie Bohannon was truly a jack of all trades. [
Franklin, Tennessee (just south of Nashville), a sophomore at Independence High School, went unchallenged all fall. In local meets, she usually finished a quarter mile to a half mile clear of her nearest rival. At the Great American Cross Country Festival in late September, she dominated the Race of Champions clocking a 17:29 PR on a day when many girls were recording "personal worsts." At the Tennessee State Meet she ran a solo 16:59 5k on the challenging Iroquois Steeplechase course. But eleven minutes into the 2006 Foot Locker National Championships held in San Diego's Balboa Park, Kroeger, who is coached by Kristen Reames at her high school and via phone and e-mail by legendary miler Jim Spivey, found herself with plenty of company. [
Alan Horton ensured that Knoxville would be represented at the 2008 Olympic Trials Marathon, maintaining the city’s streak of representation at the trials, following Dave Nelson in 1996, Todd Williams in 2000, and Bill Kabasenche in 2004. Granted, Horton only made the ‘B’ trials standard of 2:22:00 by the skin of his teeth, but for a guy who only clocked 9:49 for 2 miles in high school and whose best 10K in college was 32:10, it is a testament to this young accountant’s dedication that he made it, and provides inspiration and hope to runners who are willing to put in the hard work and train consisently and diligently. [
Campbell University campus in Buies Creek, North Carolina, Brad Polley was in 15th place, and it seemed like his Belmont team was about to have it's 4-year winning streak at the meet ended by conference new comers ETSU. But Polley and his fellow Bruins gradually clawed their way up the field; their strength and patience paying dividends as the Buccaneers' fast early pace took it's toll. A 5:02 fourth mile and 5:00 final mile saw Polley finally catch the leader with 800 meters remaining, and, with his familiar high-turnover, low-knee lift gait, he kicked away to win, clocking an impressive 25:19 over a rolling 8-kilometer course, that has several sandy sections that make maintaining a fast rhythm a challenge. Polley is a middle Tennessee native. He attended Brentwood Academy from which he graduated in 2002, and was individual runner-up at the 2001 State cross-country meet, just four seconds behind winner, Christian Brothers' Anthony Chiulli (who now runs for Colorado). He went to Samford University for his freshman year, but returned to middle Tennessee in the fall of 2003, transferring to Belmont University. [
