Moody repeats as state champ
Anderson County’s Ava Moody leads the field during the Norris Dam Invitational earlier this season. The senior standout capped her stellar 2025 campaign by winning her second straight TSSAA Class AA state championship Thursday, Nov. 6, at Shelby Farms Park in Memphis.
The Anderson County High School senior culminated her high school cross country career late last week by winning her second consecutive TSSAA Class AA state championship.
Moody threw down a time of 18 minutes, 20.45 seconds to complete the 5,000-meter course at Shelby Farms Park in Memphis on Thursday, dominating the field and helping the Lady Mavericks post a Top 10 team finish in the state meet.
“She had a 20-second lead over the second-place finisher,” Anderson County Assistant Coach Harrison Calhoun said of Moody. “She’s worked extremely hard.
“She’s probably worked harder than she ever has, and you can look back from when she started until now and you can see how hard she’s worked over the last four years.”
Sophomore Jordan Walker posted a Top 20 individual finish for the Lady Mavs, who came in ninth in the team standings.
Walker crossed the line in 20th place, leaving Calhoun optimistic about her future in the program. She had a time of 20:55.09.
“Ava has been our leader, and Jordan has worked hard and I look forward to her becoming our leader next year,” Calhoun said.
Sydney Day finished 59th (22:49.62). Cate Clotfelder finished in 121st place (25:31.21). Emma Downs rounded out the scoring for the Lady Mavericks as she came in 127th with a time of 26:11.22.
The ACHS boys ended their 2025 campaign on a high note as they finished 10th as a team on the Volunteer State’s grand stage.
J.J. Cutler was the top finisher for the Mavericks as he came in 14th and posted a time 16:48.63.
“I’m really proud of J.J. He has become our leader since Vance (Laster) graduated,” Calhoun said. “He’s really stepped up.”
Cameron Hardy finished 31st (17:27.88). He has battled injuries in recent years.
“I’m really happy for Cam,” Calhoun said. “He stepped away from track last season because of his injuries.
“We didn’t know what was going to happen this year after he had to basically put his running career on hold, and to go from that and accomplish what he did was amazing.”
Avian Laster finished 74th for the Mavericks (18:29.86), while Franklin Downs was 94th (16:59.65) and Toby Day took 131st (19:55.64).