Clemson, SC. (Jan. 28, 2006) –The Clemson High School Invitational brought over 1,000 athletes to the University of Clemson’s beautiful new indoor track and field complex to compete this past weekend. Athletes from Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Florida, and Tennessee were all in attendance to witness an absolutely fabulous performance by many of the southeast region’s best track and field athletes. Being a fan of the sport, especially the local talent, I was in attendance to keep an eye out for any strong performances from Tennessee athletes, and let me tell you, they were not at all hard to spot.
Standing out from the sea of athletes in attendance, was a small team from Knoxville, TN, very noticeable in their sharp, bright red and white Nike warm-up suites. Track Knoxville brought a contingency of 10 athletes along with a very enthusiastic cheering section to Clemson. The enthusiasm was well deserved. The athletes from Track Knoxville by days end had broken 2 meet records, posted 2 US top five performances, 4 dyestat rankings, 9 top 10 finishes and in what might be most impressive stat of all, 18 personal records.
On the boy’s side, senior sprinter Nathan Grace, who competes for Bearden High School during the outdoor season, blasted his way to a meet record of 22.12 in the 200m dash. His performance ranks him the #5 high school 200m runner in the US (#2 on flat tracks). What was most impressive about that performance was in order to save time, meet officials did not allow blocks to be used for any of the 200m or 400m races. Grace also posted another PR in the 55m dash (6.57) for a 6th place finish. Another Bearden senior also ran two PR’s on Saturday. Thomas Oatts finished 7th overall in the 55m hurdles (7.90) and 8th overall in the 400m (51.39). Both Oatts and Grace looked strong all day and if this is the start of their season, the end should be spectacular. Track Knoxville also had some young talent that would need to stamp the “personal best” next to their performances at Clemson. Jordan Chaney (Maryville) in the 400m, Adrian Riser (Bearden) in the 55m/200m dashes and Anthony Beasley (West) in the mile, all ran PR’s. The boy’s team capped their day with a 4th place finish in the 4x400m relay (Grace, Beasley, Oatts, Nolan)
The Track Knoxville girls came to run as well. West High School sophomore standout Jacquelyn Coward, fresh off her US# 2 performance last week in the 60m hurdles at the Niswonger Invitational, put up another US #2, this time in the 55mH (7.95). Later, as if that wasn’t good enough, Coward ran 25.04 (200m) and 57.31 (400m) both good for second place overall and both nationally ranked personal best times for indoor. Her teammates followed suit with personal records of their own. Ashley Bridenbaugh (Maryville) 55m hurdles/400m and Tiarra Garrett (West) 55m dash both opened their season’s with solid performances. Farragut High School senior Jessica Sterling ran a PR in the 200m, and her 55m dash (7.54), another PR, was just .08 seconds off of the mark of 7.46 put up by the TSSAA 2005 100m A-AA State Champion Janae Anderson of Austin-East. The girl’s day ended with a solid 5th place in the 4x400.
“Everybody notices the US ranked performances,” said Co-Head coach Charles Ryan, “but today I’m most proud of the performances that will go largely ignored by most people outside of our team, every kid we put out there today had their best race ever.” This writer wonders how many other teams walked out of the Clemson High School Invitational with the ability to make that statement.
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