Track Team Times-News Relays - State Qualifier

Congratulations to our University School Track Team State Qualifiers:

Isabelle Johnson
Quinn Scheller
Melina Summey
Catie Leonard

Times-News Relays:

Stats for all events and the following article was printed in theJohnson City Press:

Three locals nab state auto-bids in small schools sectionals
Tanner Cook
May 12, 2021

DANDRIDGE — What started as a rainy, dreary and cold Wednesday turned out to be a pleasant one at the Division I East Small Schools sectional track meet at Jefferson County’s Leroy Shannon Field.

Northeast Tennessee athletes had some mild success, but the competition was dominated by the Chattanooga-area schools of Signal Mountain and Brainerd.

The Signal Mountain Lady Eagles dominated the girls competition, winning the team title with 211 points, taking home gold medals in a variety of events from the discus, triple jump and sprinting events all the way up to the longest distance race.

The Brainerd Panthers barely edged out Alcoa with 145 points and had to win the final event to nab the boys team title. The Tornadoes were second with 141 points.

  
Only the top four in each event automatically qualified to the state meet on May 25 at Rockvale. Four additional at-large bids will be handed out next week when every sectional is completed based on the best marks statewide.

LOCAL QUALIFIERS
Happy Valley freshman Marcida Moore continued her strong opening campaign, finishing fourth in the 100-meter hurdles. She was also fifth in the 300 hurdles, giving her a strong chance to receive an at-large bid in the event.

“It was really cold when we first got here and it was tough to run the 100 hurdles,” Moore said. “You could definitely tell it was tough based on everyone’s times. I think I pulled through and I’m going to state, so it wasn’t that bad.

“At the beginning of the season, I was doing four events — 100 hurdles, 100, 4x100 and 300 hurdles — but I injured my knee. I started to focus on hurdles mostly after that and I’ve done well so far.”

The only other local auto-qualifier on the girls side was University High’s Catie Leonard, who finished fourth in the shot put.

Happy Valley also had the only boys individual qualifier as Cameron Cochran was runner-up in the discus. He was leading the competition going into the final throw, but Alcoa’s Braxton Baumann bettered him on the final attempt.

“Throwing in this wind is probably one of the craziest things that’s happened today,” Cochran said. “I’ve never thrown in wind that strong and when I was throwing, it was blowing right at me. Luckily, I pushed out the throw and ended up getting second place.

“It feels amazing being able to go to state because I’ve never been to state for anything. I’m going to try to get top eight or even top five at the state meet.”

DOWN TO THE WIRE
Going into the 4x400 relay, Brainerd and Alcoa sat atop the boys standing with 135 points each.

Brainerd anchor leg Keon Wheeler — who won the 400 earlier in the day — flexed his finishing strength in the dying stages of the race and passed Austin-East in the final 150 meters to give the Panthers the final 10 points.

Alcoa finished third in the race.