Every winter there are several hundred Tennessee Track & Field athletes that go around to meets in Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama, Louisiana, and wherever else a Track meet might show up. The goal is always a good one -- to get an early start to the season and become the best athlete they possibly can. But one piece was missing, something at the end of the indoor season to cap it all off. But after, what I think I heard has been thirty five years, we finally are getting a State Indoor Championship Meet! It has been a long time coming and the folks with Knoxville Youth Athletics have stepped up to the starting line again to bring Track fans another quality meet for the schedule. Considering the weather (a heck of a lot colder and icier than I really enjoy!) and for some, a long snowy drive to Johnson City, looks like the meet is poised to show us some great indoor performances on ETSU's quality indoor track!
And although this is a new meet and for some a difficult trip to make, the quality of the competition is stellar and a large group of Tennessee Track & Field athletes will soon be able to say they competed at the State level for the Indoor season. And a small group will leave Saturday with the two titles... State Indoor Meet Champion and also, since this is the first, have the accolade of holding the State Indoor meet record. Of course, my guess is that you'll need to set some good marks because this is just the first year for this meet and it easily will grow and be all that much more competitive.
Let's take a quick look at some of the highlights we may see. Of course, and as always, we are probably in for some surprises as the indoor season does have a tendency to bring those out... especially when you have to be creative to get in a quality workout around the weather we've been having!
In the boys 60 Hurdles, Walter Pate seems to be on fire lately as he chips off tenths at a time every time he runs. He likely will be one of the toughest hurdlers to beat at this meet though. Kyle Nabe, Logan Costner and C.J. Wells look to put on a good show as they do their best to chase down Walter and take this indoor title. Kyle ran an 8.99 at the Vanderbilt meet at the end of January where he chopped off some good time to get make this a PR at that meet, so he could give Walter a run. Madeline Ballard (Ravenwood) leads the girls with her Mile Split Silver standard time of 9.16 and so will be the one to shoot for if anyone wants to take the State Indoor title in this event.
The 60 sprint is going to be a fast one also with all the girls in the race coming in with performances that are only a half second apart from each other! This might just be a very hard one to call. Alexis Wilson takes the top seed for this group of sprinters and has the top 55M state mark this season and third best for the 60M. But McKenzie Ethridge (2nd best 55M and fifth best 60M) is literally right there next to her and likely to give Alexis a race in this short sprint Saturday.
The boys mile could have a very interesting finish. Zach Long (Grainger) against Ben Weisel (Father Ryan) have both recently ran the mile in almost identical times of 4:18 and some change... so this will probably start out fast and end even faster. Another good race to look forward to. The girls mile should also be a good one to watch with the current #1 returning girl for the 1600 this year, Julia Rizor (Beech) running against Hailey Hendry (Brentwood) who has the top mark this season for the indoor mile. Wonder who will end up with the State Championship title here?
The two mile is going to be a burner for sure. Luke Meade, who is ranked #2 in the event is ready to compete and no doubt wants that State Championship title to be his for this inaugural event. Just a bit behind Luke is Javan Winders who is also holds the 19th spot in the nation. Both these athletes are 1 and 2 respectively for this event in Tennessee and have achieved the Mile Split gold standard for the event -- and both are juniors so you know we are in for some good racing for a few more seasons. And speaking of that, Luke is currently the #1 Junior in the nation and Javan is #6 -- so again, a couple of national ranking juniors are going to show us how this race is done Saturday! I'm excited to watch this one.
Zack Long (Grainger) is entered in the 800M and is the top seed with his 1:53.10 and #6 overall national rank. I saw Zack run at the Vanderbilt indoor and he was superb there, but then ran in the UK meet last weekend and improved and so who knows... he certainly has the skill and talent to take a couple of seconds off and move even further up the national ranks! I'm not about to give anyone a win, but Zack does look good lately... the next few guys running -- Tyler Boullie, Jose Parilla, Ryan Lee, Kevin Campbell, Clark Dixon, and Wesley Robinson are all under the 2 minute mark and all within just a second and a half apart. So... what do you think... as far as myself, I think this race is going to have a tight, fast and exciting pack and no doubt, another race that should produce some excitement! On the girls side, a youngster in the group leads the way, Meghan Underwood. Having run a 2:17.46 at the Vanderbilt and getting herself inside the national top 20 mark. But with a slew of talented girls with some fast indoor and even faster outdoor times, this looks like it'll be a tight pack from start to finish. Addi Coggins, Calli Coggins, Hannah Caldwell, Emily Lord, and Katie Coker have all run under the 2:25 mark and even under the 2:20.... Emily Lord was 3rd at the state outdoor behind a couple of seniors and so she is one with the experience and background and probably one to keep an eye on in this race. And remember, this is indoor, and as anyone knows, anything and everything can happen here! And you know what... this just get better and better as I look through all the entries at this meet... yea, if you're not excited about this meet, then you've got to have a pretty darn good resting pulse for sure!
Some of the field events to keep an eye might be the girls long jump as Madeline Ballard of Ravenwood has the top spot in TN at 18' but has done over 19' outdoors and so with the no wind and steady temps of an indoor meet, who knows what might happen Saturday. And then the second best in TN, Bethany Rich (Rossview) and the #3 TN ranked girl, Rachel Jantzi are also going to compete. For field events, you can't get a better group to watch. I've said it before too, in these field events, you get to have something you don't get in the running events -- the DO-OVER! Well, sort of... if your first jump isn't what you want, you get another one that you can improve on it. Hey... just watch this long jump and see how these girls do.. it'll be fun, that I know for sure!
Now.. in the shot put, Tamia Crocket (Hardin Valley) has a throw of 43-1.75 that puts her at 30th in the nation and the number 1 TN girls thrower. She's also the outdoor state runner up in the event and current highest ranked returning athlete this outdoor season. Bottom line, if you like the throws -- which by the way is one of the most watched events at the Olympics -- then you need to watch this young lady Saturday because I doubt she'll hold back anything to get this State Indoor Meet title on her resume... Looking at the boys side, they also aren't going to hold back anything... Evan McCracken (Cherokee) comes into this meet with a top 12 national ranking with his 60-10.5 throw he did a the KYA Indoor at the same venue as Saturday. Right next to Evan is Brett Neeley with a 58-10 at the Vanderbilt meet (but he also has throws over 60 last season). Whenever you get the #1 and #2 ranked athletes in the state to go head-to-head, well... just what you'd expect at this meet! And to repeat what I've said before, this meet is going to be fun! Can't wait for it to start!
See you on the track,
Coach Ted