Season Recap: Middle School Sports

TENNIS

VARSITY SOFTBALL The Middle School tennis teams opened the season young and inexperienced, but they finished as a veteran group with playoff experience. Both teams showed significant improvement throughout the campaign and closed their season with deep league tournament runs. “Madison was strong all season, and she had played singles previously,” added Cox. “Agnes and Olivia were both new to singles, but once they got comfortable in that role and gained confidence, they played very well. We also have some really important wins in the doubles lines, which were filled with newcomers.”

Reilly Cox took on the toughest opponents for the Indians (8-4) and recorded three wins, while William NeSmith at #2 singles racked up five victories and Elijah Pinney six at #3 singles. Jackson Davis and Christian David (seven apiece), Fenn NeSmith (six), and Joseph Turney and Maddox English (four) tallied multiple doubles wins.

“The boys had only one returning player from the lineup last season in Reilly who played #1 singles, but there were a couple of exhibition players in Christian and Joseph who really were clutch in several matches this season at doubles,” says coach Anthony Cox. “The rest of the lineup of new players was really solid as well. We had an army of young players who developed their game well throughout the course of the summer and season.”

The Lady Indians (6-5) were smaller in number, and though they had more eighth-graders, there were very few with previous experience. Madison Phillips at #1 singles had a great showing with a program-best nine wins as the team made the semifinals. Agnes Hogan at #2 singles won seven matches, and Olivia Bonner at #3 won four. At doubles, Gracey Eller and Savana Owensby had four wins, while Catherine Harris and Steffi Siebert had one win each in doubles play.

The TFS MS cross country teams competed in nine races in a span of seven weeks. The teams had a natural progression, as individuals continued to build off prior successes. Nearly every runner set new PRs this season. For the Lady Indians, Avery Keim and Delaney Johnson, who went on to win the Region JV meet, were consistently at the head of the pack. Though the girls’ roster was slim, all played a pivotal role in the team’s first Tri-State Championship since 2019 and fourth since inception in 2010. Olivia Henderson, Mary Kate Ball, and Haylen McGugan all placed inside the top-10 in the final meet. Keim was third and Johnson runnerup in the Tri-State Championship. The girls also With the success this season and plenty of players potentially back in 2023, the future looks bright for the MS tennis team.

“Overall, we are really proud to have finished second in the Southern Mountain League in the regular season, which I think was a bit of an overachievement based on our experience level,” states Cox. “The boys also made the championship match, which sets us up to be very successful next year.”

CROSS COUNTRY

featured Maeve Hatcher, Megan Prince, and Lizita Miller.

The Indians had a larger roster to work with and were led by eighth-graders Gavin Dodd, Ryan Anderson, and Teagan Penland. The trio consistently led by example. Dodd was sixth at the Championship meet, while Anderson was seventh and Penland ninth. Seventh-grader Sam Belk placed eighth, as the Indians came in as runner-up. Several others showed improvement throughout the year, including Owen Earp, Josh Lander, Gavin Simmons, Peter Greiving, Sebastian York, Caleb Kelly, Morgan Martin, Steven Jackson, and Noah McClain.