Sports
January 21, 2026 by Jake Nichols
KNOXVILLE — The Farragut High School and Hardin Valley Academy swim teams came together for a dual meet on Jan. 11.
FHS won 189-136, as the two high school teams met along with both middle school programs.
In the women’s 200-yard high school medley relay, Hardin Valley placed first with a time of 1:57.10.
The middle school version saw Farragut win at 2:05.50 while Farragut also swept both 200-yard medley relays on the men’s side with times of 1:49.14 and 2:08.70 for middle and high school, respectively.
Hardin Valley junior Emma Hackett won the women’s 200-yard freestyle event at 2:01.53 while HVA’s Alisa Yakuna claimed a win in the middle school version at 2:07.12.
HVA also swept this event on the men’s side, as junior Landon Cleland timed out at 1:49.31 with Hawks middle-schooler Parker Abraham finishing at 2:25.15.
In the women’s individual medley events, Farragut sophomore Katherine Buchanan and HVA middle-schooler Lauren Hackett finished first at 2:23.75 and 1:03.13, respectively.
On the men’s side, HVA senior Hayden Hall won the men’s 100-yard event with a time of 2:06.00 and FMS eighth-grader Lawrence Hung finished first in the 50-yarder at 1:08.82.
In the women’s 50-yard freestyle, Hardin Valley senior Marley Molchan finished first at 27.18 seconds while FMS sixth-grader Myla Saffles saw a time of 25.97 seconds to lead the middle-schoolers.
The men’s 50-yard event saw FHS senior Adam Webster take first with a time of 24.15 seconds, and sixth-grader Bo Gary led the middle school at 28.40 seconds.
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January 21, 2026 by Jake Nichols
KNOXVILLE — In any rivalry matchup, records and rankings might as well be tossed out the window.
Not on Friday, Jan. 16, though. When Bearden beat Farragut 71-31 to remain perfect in District 4-4A, the Bulldogs showed exactly why they have been ranked No. 2 in their classification through a good portion of this season.
Those rankings don’t matter as much to Bearden boys coach Jeremy Parrott, who saw last season end when the Dawgs tumbled from their similarly lofty perch in a regional loss to Oak Ridge.
That result fueled Parrott’s detail-centered message this offseason, and so far, the Bulldogs have delivered with 22 wins — this one by way of 17 points from Justin Nordin, 16 from Brendan Murphy and 12 from Carson Asbaty.
“I’m happy they’ve had this great start, but 6-0 is the most important thing,” said Parrott in reinforcing his team’s mark in district play.
The coach made sure to credit his assistant coach, Tyler Pace, for the scout that led to Bearden’s defensive prowess. That effort helped guide the Bulldogs through an offensive lull, as they led 31-16 at halftime.
But they did not miss much after the break, each shot electrifying a sold-out crowd of more than 2,000 people.
“Everything was going in, so I had to throw them up,” Nordin said with a smile. “I didn’t expect we would win by that much, but at the Dawg House, with this team, that’s what we should do.
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January 21, 2026 by Jake Nichols
KNOXVILLE — Natalya Hodge held up a three, combining her own swagger with the energy of a raucous, sold-out crowd.
It was a signature look on a vintage night for the Missouri signee, who nailed four second-half 3-pointers to lead Bearden past Farragut, 72-41, for a District 4-4A rivalry win on Friday, Jan. 16.
“My adrenaline got back up just because I wasn’t hitting in the first half,” Hodge said later. “But hitting that felt really good, especially in a rivalry game.”
Hodge paced the Lady Bulldogs with 21 points, nine of which came amidst an 18-0 Bearden run to start the third quarter.
That burst began with back-to-back triples from Emma Rainey and Hodge to get the Lady Bulldogs rolling. Also, it followed a second quarter in which Farragut scored only three points.
That frame plunged FHS into a double-digit deficit, and they could not recover en route to their first district loss of the season. Meanwhile, Friday’s win kept Bearden perfect atop District 4-4A.
“Emma and Nat hitting those 3s really got us going, and our defense in the second quarter helped us get some separation, too,” Bearden girls coach Justin Underwood said. “It’s not always how it happens, especially in rivalry games, but I was proud of our girls. Our defense was really good and we hit our stride there in the second half.”
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January 21, 2026 by Jake Nichols
The Hardin Valley and Farragut wrestling teams both will take part in the Region 2-AA Duals Tournament on Wednesday, Jan. 21, at Hardin Valley Academy.
HVA and FHS will take on West and Halls, respectively, in the first round, which will be single-elimination. Winners of those matches will wrestle for the region championship that night and will both move on to sectionals the following week.
The layout from here onward is clear, but the path to reach this point has been rather tricky.
Having beaten each other, Farragut, HVA and Maryville all tied atop District 2-AA at 1-1. So with all three teams tied in head-to-head results, the result for the 1-seed came down to most points scored against the other teams in the tie.
Hardin Valley claimed the prize with the deciding win coming from HVA’s Mikeal Arce, who staged a comeback victory over Maryville’s Payton Cromwell in the 285-pound bracket last Thursday.
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January 21, 2026 by Ken Lay, Correspondent
Hardin Valley — Hardin Valley Academy boys basketball coach Andy Arendt has been waiting for his young team to mature.
The Hawks, one of the area’s youngest teams, have battled through a roller-coaster ride of a 2025-26 campaign. But they took a big step forward at home Friday night when they overcame a nine-point halftime deficit to notch a victory over one of the state’s most successful and tradition-rich programs.
Hardin Valley persevered and toppled Oak Ridge, 70-63, in a District 4-4A contest
at HVA.
“We grew up tonight and this was a big win for us,” Arendt said. “We played harder than they did and we were tougher than they were, and that’s what I told the players and the coaches in the locker room.
“This is a big win for us against a coach like (Oak Ridge’s) Aaron Green. He’s a great coach, probably the best in the state.”
The game was tight in the first quarter as the Hawks (12-8 overall, 2-4 in the district) and the Wildcats (11-7, 4-2) matched baskets. Oak Ridge, however, was able to seize the upper hand when Justice West buried a shot at the buzzer as time expired in the opening frame.
From there, Oak Ridge was able to build on the momentum that the first-quarter buzzer-beater established.
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January 21, 2026 by Ken Lay, Correspondent
Hardin Valley — Hardin Valley Academy’s girls basketball team found itself in a precarious position at halftime in its game against Oak Ridge Friday night.
In a battle between two
of the area’s youngest teams, the Lady Hawks faced a 16-point deficit after the second quarter.
They battled but came up short in a 49-43 District 4-4A loss to Oak Ridge at HVA.
“We did a good job digging ourselves a nice hole but we almost got out of it,” Lady Hawks’ coach Jennifer Galloway said.
The game was tightly-contested in the first quarter with the Lady Wildcats (6-10 overall, 3-3 in the district) clinging to a slim 10-7 advantage, but Oak Ridge went on a tear in the second stanza as it used a 21-8 run to extend its lead to 31-15 by halftime.
The Lady Wildcats were hot after the break and led 38-18 and appeared to be headed to an easy victory midway through the third quarter but the Lady Hawks (9-10, 2-4) had other ideas.
Hardin Valley made three 3-pointers in the third frame and clawed its way back into the contest and had the deficit down to 39-28 when Gracie Edwards knocked down a long-range jumper with 13.8 seconds remaining in the period.
Oak Ridge built its advantage back up to 43-30 by the end of the period.
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