Performer Of The Meet
For the final poll of the 2022 track season we chose one athlete from each of these five disciplines to showcase their performances from the TSSAA Track and Field State Championship: Sprints, Distance, Hurdles, Throws, and Jumps. While there are other athletes that had notable performances, we'll try to point to those through other articles that get published throughout the summer.
Sprints: Erica Douglas - Ensworth
Last season, Erica Douglas crossed the finish line three times and each time she finished second behind Emory Moore of Harpeth Hall. This season she returned as the favorite in Division II AA and ran like the favorite on Wednesday changing those second place finishes into State Championships. Douglas won the 100m, 200m, and anchored the Tiger 4x100m squad to championship best time of 47.33 which was better than the next best time run by Memphis Central on Thursday by over half a second.
Distance: Claire Stegall - Nolensville
There's not much more you can say about what Claire Stegall did last Thursday so I'm not going to bother repackaging my words. I'm just going to copy and past what I wrote yesterday. Prior to this season, Kathy Kroeger of Independence held the state record in the 3200m and the state meet record in the 1600m. State records can be set at any meet in or out of state as long as a TSSAA official is in attendance. a state meet record can only be set at the state meet. At the Section 2 AAA Meet, Freshman Claire Stegall solo'd a 10:21 3200m to break Kroeger's state record of 10:26 set in 2008. Last Thursday she erased Kroeger entirely from either record book. Her 4:50.4 bettered the previous record of 4:51.93. Claire just barely missed out on also laying claim to the state meet record in the 3200m as well posting a 10:36.16 as the current record is 10:35.32 but with the 4x400m on her mind to cap the night I suspect conserving some energy for the team aspirations crossed her mind as she handedly won the eight lap event.
The Nolensville girls ended up finishing 3rd overall. Claire's cross country campaign ended as quickly as it started this fall only running two races before a season ending injury but I think I can speak for everyone when I say I'm really looking forward to seeing her return to the course in fall of 2022.
Hurdles: Emily Kreek - GPS
In a previous article, it was pointed out that Emily Kreek's 43.56 300m Hurdle time was the #17 All-Time mark for the event in our database and though three athlete posted better times than she did in the highs, none of those runners doubled with the 300's which is why Kreek gets the nod here for this event type.
Emily Kreek will end the season ranked TN #1 in the 300m Hurdles and #2 in the 100m Hurdles.
Jumps: Lennox Langham - Webb School of Knoxville
Even though Lennox Langham is listed as a freshman, this isn't her first time at the state championship. Last year as an 8th grader the jumper from the Webb School of Knoxville swept the horizontal jumps for Division II Class A and even though Webb moved up a classification this season the result for Langham remained the same. Into a -2.7 wind, Lennox was still able to post a 37-8.5 triple (which was the best mark of all three days) and on her final jump of the long was able to leap over the competition with 17-5.25.
At the East Region meet she jumped a personal best triple of 39-2.75 which is a TN #16 All-Time and US #6 for freshman in 2022. On this trajectory she could become the first jumper in state history to jump 20-40 Long and Triple.
Throws: Mensi Stiff - Brentwood Academy
Last year, anticipation in the shot put circle was palpable as the hard tape measure was brought out to officially certify Mensi Stiff's record breaking put of 48 feet and 11.5 inches. This year, it was most certainly expected. Even amidst the wind the an intermittent rain Stiff still managed to improve on her historic mark from last season becoming the first thrower in state meet history to eclipse the fifty foot barrier with her toss of 50-02 just five inches shy of her personal best. The conditions weren't exactly ripe for her to officially take down the discus record unfortunately but while motivation isn't something the junior from Brentwood Academy needs, I suspect it will definitely motivate her this offseason to not have her name next to both marks already.