Pearl Cohn Boys
Back On Top
For the first time since 2019, the Firebird Boys of Pearl Cohn can call themselves State Champions once again. For the last two seasons they've placed runner up to Alcoa so this year turned out to be an inverse with how the hardware was distributed however their main opponent this go around turned out to be and emerging Tyner who was the top projected team entering the state competition. So how did the Firebirds flip the script? Let's take a look at the scoring breakdown:
Pearl Cohn | Tyner | |
| Event Wins | 3 | 3 |
| Events w/ Multiple Scorers | 1 | 2 |
| Total Events Scored | 11 | 9 |
| Points | 80 | 67 |
Emphasis on Multis
When I talked to Coach Davis after the state meet in 2021, he discussed how he didn't anticipate Alcoa scoring 17 points in the decathlon. The Tornados ultimately won by just 4.5 points that year. Since, Coach Davis has emphasized these events and entered Tuesday with 15 points on the board after Donovan Higgins won the multi-event competition and Josh Sims placed 4th. Tyner had zero. That event ended up being the difference that kept the Firebirds ahead of Rams as the points were being counted up on Tuesday. The day started strong with Maki Wallace taking the defending champion in high jump all the way to missed to place runner up with Higgin following up his decathlon title with a victory in the triple.
On the track, the Firebirds only scored points in three open events but made the most of their relays opening the day with a 5th place finish in the 4x800 and placing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the remaining with a victory midway through the order in the 4x100.
A year after the girls claimed their first title since 2008, the boys returned to the top of the podium. This was the 4th championship for Pearl Cohn and first since 2019.
Tyner, to their credit, secure brought home their first hardware in program history with their runner up finish. Senior Demetrii Lovick anchored the scoring with victories in the 200m and 400m events and a 3rd place finish in the long jump. The Ram 4x400m team would also bring home a victory in the final event of the evening. These teams are unlikely to go head to head again any time soon as Pearl Cohn will move from Class A to Class AA with the new classification cycle starting next year.