Performer of the Week
Every week this season we will be conducting a poll from beginning Monday and ending Wednesday to highlight the performances from the previous week. This will give us an opportunity to showcase the best talent in Tennessee. Though some athletes will likely lay down marks every meet that are worthy of being in the poll every time, our goal is to cast a wide net and showcase a vast array of athletes from all parts of the state.
Jameson Wharton - Hendersonville High School
Last year when I timed the Sumner County Championships, Jameson Wharton was a raw talent who ran through prelims with the fastest qualifying marks but wasn't able to make it back for finals. He would end up placing 6th at state in the 100m dash and lead the Commandos 4x100m relay to a 5th place finish. This season he's a little more focused and refined. You could tell from how he carried himself through his warm-ups on last Thursday. The future Commodore notched 3 victories this week where he won the 100m and long jump with TN #5 marks of 10.72 and 22-7 and the 200m dash as well. He's currently in position to qualify for all three from section 3.
Roland McGhee Jr. - Ensworth
It hasn't been great track weather so far this season and while running events have still managed to post impressive times to ogle over events like horizontal jumps have struggled to post "Wow" results but Ensworth's Roland McGhee just changed that with a 24-1.5 long jump on Wednesday. It's the #6 all time long jump in our database. He's the defending state champion outdoor and indoor and looks in position to make it a three-peat next month.
Terrick Johnson - Whitehaven
I almost put Terrick Johnson in last week's poll after running a then TN #2 800m but opted not to as I felt like bigger performances were on the horizon for him. It only took one week for him do so. The defending 400m state champion had his Tennessee soil debut in the event at the panthers relays and laid down a TN #6 all time mark with a 47.26. It was almost a full second PR. Only 4 athletes in TN history have run in the 46s and one is his former teammate Emmanuel Bynum who has the state record at 46.60.
Asante Burton - Carter High School
After seeing Asante Burton's jump results from the Volunteer Track Classic my first instinct in preparing for this article was "ok well how did he finish at state last year?" Well he didn't qualify. His PRs coming into this season were 21-8 and 41-6 and in Large Division I Section 1 he didn't qualify out in either event. Carter isn't considered a "Large School" anymore though and he should probably consider booking his hotel rooms in Murfreesboro because his 44-4.5 triple jump victory and 23-3.25 long jump runner up currently have the Hornet sitting #1 in both events by a wide margin in Class AA.
Carter Bradford - Sequatchie County
Carter Bradford's cross country season was cut short right before the state meet due to injury. It was an unfortunate situation that befell a lot of high caliber runners this season. He's fully recovered now and on the day before the mile was to be contested in Knoxville, other Chattanooga area schools descended upon Lee University and laid down some head turning times highlighted by Bradford and Ryan Lovelace's 1600m run.
HS Boys 1600 Meter Run
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Name Yr Team Time H# Pts
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1 Carter Bradford 12 Sequatchie Co. High 4:12.83 2 10
2 Ryan Lovelace 12 Cleveland High Schoo 4:14.23 2 8
3 Grayson Kennedy 12 Sequatchie Co. High 4:29.42 2 6They set a new TN #1 and #2 and no Tennessee runner in Knoxville could match them. Bradford is the defending state champion in the event and looks to be in the drivers seat but it'll be interesting to see how many races he attempts this year after putting all his eggs in the 1600m basket last season while Will Douglas put all of his in the 3200m. Can we see them twice on the track together in May? I imagine we'll at least see them once and it'll likely be at this distance.