Francie Tedder didn’t like finishing second, so she did something about it.
“I remember my first Girls on the Run race I ever did; I got runner-up, and I was so mad,” Tedder recalled. “So, I was like, ‘OK. I have to lock in. I’m going to actually put work into this.’ ’’
She was in third or fourth grade at the time, just starting her competitive running career with a 5K on Hutchinson Island through the local chapter of the Girls on the Run. The non-profit organization’s mission is to inspire girls in grades 3-8 “to be joyful, healthy and confident” through a curriculum integrating running.
Mission accomplished, as Tedder is still on the run. Now 17, the Savannah Arts Academy senior heads a girls' cross-country team seeking its third consecutive GHSA Class 2A state title and fourth in five years.
Francie Tedder after winning her first state title with Savannah Arts in 2024. (Photo Savannah Arts Academy)
Tedder said that’s her top priority, continuing “a high standard” set by the 2022 squad that won the program’s first state championship. It featured a senior class led by Margaret Wade, Lyric Olson and Ava Coffey. Tedder followed as a freshman in 2023 when the Panthers placed third.
“I kind of always had these footsteps to fill,” Tedder said.
She came to Savannah Arts from Charles Ellis Montessori Academy, where she also excelled as a runner. Tedder recalled finishing fourth in the 2-mile race as a sixth-grader at the city championship.
“I was also very mad,” Tedder recalled, noting as a silver lining that the top four finishers of that race would reunite on the 2024 SAA team and collect a state crown. “That’s pretty cool.”
As a freshman, Tedder got better at handling her results through Panthers teammates such as her friend Leah Nyce, who was two years ahead and generally faster.
“I think that taught me a good lesson that … basically I need to be in the race against myself most of the time,” Tedder said. “But I always do like to win, too. It’s not bad.”
All she’s done this season is win, going 4-0 in four meets.
The team’s co-captain with junior McKay Bennett, Tedder opened the season on Aug. 27 with first place at the Frazier-Hite Invitational (21:10.97), followed by the fastest finish at the Stinger Invitational (19:46.85) on Sept. 3 and the Southern Georgia XC Championship (19:58.30) on Sept. 10.
The 2024 state championship team at sectionals, one week before Tedder won her first state title with the Panthers (Photo Savannah Arts Academy)
After SAA head coach Steve Ricciardi gave varsity runners the day off over the long season for the Raider Invitational on Sept. 16, the Panthers were back at it on Sept. 26 at the 5K@The Farm in Guyton.
Tedder led the Panthers over the 3.1-mile course in 19:06.44 for the victory. Bennett was fourth (19:57.04) and fellow junior Ava Treece was sixth (20:31.12) as the team’s core trio came through. Other key contributors were seniors Madeline Balthrop (eighth, 20:39.29) and Morgan Irvine (12th, 21:11.24) and sophomore Eleanora Smith (19th, 22:19.63).
Tedder’s personal record for the 5K is 18:36, set last Oct. 16 at the Run the Plank Invitational in Brunswick. Teams' scores in cross country are determined by individual runners’ placements in the field, with every course different and conditions varying.
“As a senior, that is my focus going into a race is to win it,” Tedder said ahead of the Guyton meet. “It’s just hard to focus on times. I haven’t PR’d yet this season, but I’m still happy with my performances just because cross country is really about where you place within a race. I can’t be mad if I place as well as I possibly can.”
Steady as she goes
Ricciardi, in his 15th season coaching the SAA girls and boys cross country teams, praised Tedder for her steady progression from her freshman year to her status as a junior and senior as the squad’s top runner and one of the best in her class in the state.
Photos courtesy of Savannah Arts Academy Athletics. Lead story photo Craig LeTourneau.
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