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Can you think of anything better to do on a beautiful Saturday in April than watch a well-run track meet? I surely cannot. Especially when it's the McCallie Mid-South Invitational. Schools from across the state showed up ready to roll Saturday morning at Spears Stadium on the pristine McCallie campus.
Both the girls and boys miles lived up to the expected hype. Darrah Wiseman of Tellico Plains narrowly triumphed over Helen Webb of Baylor and Gilly Shumate of GPS, with five girls running under 5:20 on the day. Darrah's 5:11.18 time placed her #1 overall in Division I A state rankings.
On the boys' side, Jack Bowen and Zachary Youngblood dueled side-by-side for the entire race. Though Jack secured the victory on his home track in a time of 4:13.64, Youngblood gave him a serious challenge, running 4:14.00. I cannot wait to watch these two athletes, both only sophomores, compete for years to come.
Mariah Ivery of GPS calmly clinched the 400-meter crown, placing her 3rd overall in the Division II-AA individual state rankings with a time of 58.29. Ivery also anchored the GPS girls 4x400 meter relay team to victory with a 4:16.03 time, sixth overall in Division II-AA for the year.
In the girls 3200, Katie Hetzel led from the front and never looked back. Her time of 11:20.11 places her #9 in the AAA individual rankings for the year. On the boys side, Roderick Cormier secured the victory with a time of 9:56.44.
The McCallie boys, the eventual winning boys team on the day, notched a Division II-AA #1 ranked performance in the 4x200 meter relay with a time of 1:27.68.
Though there were exciting performances throughout the day across all events, Baylor's Evie Culbreath used the competition to exclusively participate in Field events likely using them as a tune-up for state multis. She won the long jump and high jump and placed third in the shot put behind 2x State Record holder Mensi Stiff who made the drive down to McCallie for the second year in a row. It wasn't a record setting day on Saturday but currently ranks US #5 in the disus and US #2 in the shot put with throws of 165-7 and 52-11 respectively.