USN Girls, FRA Boys: Why They Won Division II Class A

TSSAA State T&F Championship -Div.2 A & AA

Jun 21, 2022

Franklin Road Academy Boys

First since 2003

The last time Franklin Academy won a state title on the boys side none of the athletes from this year's squad had been born yet. Since 2003, the Panthers came close twice placing runner up in 2018 and again just last season. With CPA and Webb School of Knoxville moving up to Class AA this year, there were more points available for the remaining schools to stake claim to and FRA grabbed a lot of them when you consider that last season they only scored 116 points.

	FRA	Harding
Event Wins	6	3
Events w/ Multiple Scorers	9	8
Total Events Scored	16	14
Total Points	187	100

The 10 point loss to Harding last year clearly left a bad taste in the mouth of the returning Panthers who made sure this season didn't end with the same feeling. Much like as you read with girls division the true separation in points can be told by this metric.

	Finishers in the Top 3
FRA	18
Harding	5

Of the six event wins, 5 were in individual events and each win was by a senior.

Payton Culp - Pole Vault
Thatcher Frankfather - Decathlon, 400m Dash
Josiah Jackson - Shot Put (above)
Jeremiah Greer - 200m Dash

Though it was the first for these seniors, it was the fifth for Coach Tucker who has been there for every single team championship.

Obviously with an 87 point victory, Franklin Road can afford to lose some points and still be in position in 2023 to defend but it will be a tall ask for underclassmen like Griffin Frankfather to fill the points his brother scored and other upcoming seniors like Joe Crocker and Justice Springer to pick up the rest. Should be interesting to see who can make the jump next season. Congratulation to the Franklin Road Academy Panthers in the meantime.