Abby Faith Cheeseman wins third straight TSSAA cross country championship

Abby Faith Cheeseman trails only former Independence great Kathy Kroeger for most TSSAA cross country state titles.

And she has two more years to at least tie her.

Cheeseman, a Webb School - Bell Buckle sophomore and daughter of coach Cathy Cheeseman, won her third straight Division II-A championship on Friday with a blistering 17:12.53 — the fastest time ran by any female runner during the two-day cross country championships at Sanders Ferry Park in Hendersonville. St. George's Lauren Rutlin was second (18:33.04). USN's Auldyn Plant was third (20:07.02.).

Kroeger won four straight cross country championships at Independence from 2005-08 before moving on to Stanford where she was a two-time All-American in cross country.

Westminster Academy of Memphis was the DII-A girls team champion with 44 points. Sarah Catherine Donovan was the program's top finisher, running the course in 20:20.72 to finish fourth. Webb School - Bell Buckle was second with 66 points and USN was third with 83 points.

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In Class AAA, Nolensville sophomore Claire Stegall won her first state championship with a time of 17:52.04, beating Centennial freshman Larkin Johnson (18:40.47) by more than 48 seconds. Stegall's title comes a year after she ran in only two high school cross country meets as a freshman before developing a stress fracture and having to to shut her season down.

However, she won the TSSAA Class AAA 1,600 and 3,200 the following spring during the track and field season.

Brentwood freshman Rachel Haws was third (18:41.28) to make it a Williamson County sweep. Brentwood won the girls team title with 41 points and placed three runners in the top 10 overall. Beech was second with 91 points. Houston was third with 153 points.

TSSAA boys

Farragut placed three runners in the top 10 of the Class AAA boys race to win the team title with 41 points. Beech was second with 101 and Brentwood was third with 129 points.

Cleveland's Owen Clemons was first with a time of 15:22.47. Farragut's Trevor Coggin (15:33.13) was second. Teammates' Braden Ebbert (15:43.75) was fourth and Matteo Tonnos (15:46.98) was fifth. Bearden's Cade Crum was third (15:43.69).

DCA's Drew Johnson won the DII-A boys race in 16:19.17, beating second-place finisher Sammy Mohammed of Harding Academy, who finished in 16:30.83. USN's Austin Cason was third (16:41.38).

USN won the boys title, finishing with 52 points. Christian Academy of Knoxville was second with 82 points, highlighted by Joshua Cross' fourth-place finish (16:53.24). DCA was third with 86 points.

Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA cross country: Abby Faith Cheeseman wins third straight title