The KHSAA state cross country championships returned to the Kentucky Horse Park paddock course Saturday for the first time since pre-COVID times in 2019. It was an appropriate place for a Secretariat-type finish in the Class 1A girls’ race.
Fort Campbell seventh grader Emmie Underwood, who trailed by 25 yards at the two-mile mark, flipped a switch reminiscent of the 1973 Triple Crown winner and won the race going away.
Underwood ran the 3.1-mile rolling course in 19:11 to beat Beechwood’s Lily Parke by 16 seconds. In doing so, Underwood joins Sylvia Moreno (1990) and Kitty Davidson (1981) as Fort Campbell girls’ state champions. However, she is the first since the KHSAA upped the girls’ distance to 3.1 miles to equal the boys’ distance 30 years ago.
Her win Saturday capped a season that saw her win six invitational races, the Region 1 title, and break a 22-year-old school record for the fastest time. Underwood’s record time of 18:44 was set at the Graves County Eagle Classic on Oct. 14. Her winning time Saturday was 19:11.
After Saturday, Underwood owns seven of the ten fastest 5K times in Fort Campbell’s storied cross country history.
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WAY TO GO EMMIE!!!!!