Barren County senior Brody Miller is back on track.

After missing time with injuries and sickness, Miller was able to amp up his training again in the last week to prepare for Saturday’s Gatorland Run at Phil Moore Park. The training paid off, with Miller claiming the individual title in the boys’ 5K race – winning with a time of 16 minutes, 54.1 seconds.

Miller set the pace from the start, going wire-to-wire to beat runner-up Jayden Brooks from Columbia (Tennessee) Academy by 14.3 seconds.

“My first goal was to go out hard, make sure nobody gets in front of me the first mile,” Miller said. “The second mile I coasted, kind of just stayed at that pace. The last mile it was just whatever kept me in front of them. I gave whatever I had in that race.”

Miller is pleased that it was good enough to win Saturday, but added he hopes to improve as the season winds down and the region meet approaches in about a month.

“I really think this is the best I could have got today, but hopefully I have a 16 in the future,” Miller said.

Butler County’s Ryder Harbaugh finished third with a time of 17:14.6. Teammate Case Hooten finished fourth with a time of 17:23.7.

Harbaugh said he was pleased with his performance on a course he wasn’t that familiar with.

“I never ran here before so it was just go in here and run it, hope for the best,” Harbaugh said. “I saw people in front of me and just tried to stay with them. If you keep with them, then you will be fine.”

He added having Hooten to run in the pack with him helped make his first trip around the course a little easier.

“We go back and forth almost every race,” Harbaugh said. “All of last season and pretty much up to this race – I’ve won, then he’s won. We are going back and forth. It kind of keeps us in check.”

Harbaugh said he hopes to be able to build off Saturday’s performance as the region meet approaches.

“Every race helps,” Harbaugh said. “I am still not where I want to be. I want to be in the high 16s. That is where I want to be, but I am slowly getting there. Each race is different.”

Dickson County (Tennessee) took the team title, edging host Greenwood by 11 points. The Gators had two runners finish in the top 10 with Justin Doran (17:30.1) finishing eighth and Andrew Champion (17:35.8) finishing ninth.

On the girls’ side, Bowling Green’s Kathyrn Harris was the highest local finisher, earning a second-place finish with a time of 19:42.5. Kyrian Sychareune from Hume-Fogg Academy in Nashville was the individual winner with a time of 19:37.6.

“I feel great,” Harris said. “Considering the rainy, muddy conditions that was a good time and place. Normally I don’t wear spikes when I race, but this time I decided to wear spikes so I would grip better on the grass.”

Harris added she feels pretty prepared as the region meet approaches.

“For about three weeks I took off to do a nice training block,” Harris said. “I had the ACT, so I couldn’t go to one of the races. My coach and I decided to make it a training block and taper for this race. We will basically do the same up to region.”

Greenwood’s Claire Ellington finished sixth with a time of 20:38.9, helping the Lady Gators earn the team title.

“I am happy with the place I got,” Ellington said. “I’m just not happy with the time, but the weather is bad. I am hoping to get into the 19s at one of our next races. That is the goal.”

Ellington said she hopes to reach that goal before the season ends.

“One of the races coming up in two weeks is supposed to have a really fast course,” Ellington said. “I am hoping to get it there and rest. Get lots of sleep the week before. Try to do everything I can (to reach my goal). That will be our last race before region, so there will be more pressure on it. Hopefully that will help me to do good.”

Greenwood edged Hume Fogg by six points to take the team title.

Bowling Green’s Stella Miner (eight with a time of 20:58.1) and Greenwood’s Lily Clark (10th with a time of 21.23.8) also earned top-10 finishes in Saturday’s race.{&end}