By Allen Hamrick
The Clay County High School track team is in the news once again and continues making waves in the track world. They opened their season at Roane County at the Don Williams Memorial on Saturday. Clay County definitely rousted the event. The track team has one of their best teams hitting the field this year. They continue to get better as the years roll by, and they are proving it. The team has many new faces, and they are tough to outrun, especially on the relay teams.
Individually they have shined, but are now coming together as a team. The new faces on the team have made a great impact and have put the Panthers on the top.
Saturday’s events started with the shot-put. Xena Legg set the bar, taking first place, followed by Brooke Cliver who took 2nd place. Xena also took 3rd place in the disc. Abigail Grandon also set the bar by taking 1st place in the pole vault. Then the Lady Panther runners started their run for the money. Ivy Beard took 2nd place in the 200-meter run, and Mckinley Mahan took 1st place in the 800 meter and 2nd place in the 400-meter runs. Sophia Berberich took 1st place in the 3200-meter and 3rd place in the 1600-meter runs. Jada Stricker took 2nd place in the 110-meter hurdles and 3rd place in the 300-meter hurdles. The relay teams were up, and the 4×100 team was 3rd, the 4×200 team was 2nd, the 4×400 team was 3rd and the 4×88 team took 1st place. The shuttle team took 2nd overall and the Lady Panther team, as a whole, took home the 2nd place team trophy with 168 points.
The boys were just as effective, and their track shoes were smoking. In the field events it was TJ Pritt who got the ball rolling and started putting big numbers on the board in disc and shot-put, taking 2nd place in the disc and 1st place in the shot. Cole Boggs was 4th in the long jump, Daymian Stricker took 1st place in the high jump and 2nd place in the 400-meter, and Jackson Stricker was 3rd in the pole vault. Toby Yeager was 3rd in the 800-meter run, with Kaden Fitzwater taking 1st place in the 3200-meter and 2nd place in the 1600-meter runs. In the 110-meter hurdles, Evan Bass took 1st place, Justin Nida took 2nd place, and Tilyr Bird took 3rd place. In the 300-meter hurdles, Justin Nida took 1st place, Tilyr Bird took 2nd place, and Evan Bass took 3rd place. The relay teams were kicking it, placing 1st in the 4×200, 2nd in the 4×800, and 3rd in the 4×400. The 110-meter shuttle hurdle team took 1st place. Overall, the boys won the competition with 185 total points.
This could possibly be the Clay County Panthers track and field dream team.
