MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – There was an awful lot of track action at the Dean Hayes Track & Soccer Stadium here at MTSU on the opening day of the TSSAA Spring Fling and there was plenty of celebrating for teams from Chattanooga.
The Signal Mountain Lady Eagles had a day-long battle with the Martin Luther King Lady Royals in the Class AA girls meet, but the Lady Eagles were able to pull out the win as they three-peated for the second time.
The Lady Eagles finished a long day with 89 points while MLK was second with 76. The Signal Mountain boys were second with 52 points behind Greeneville’s winning total of 70.
East Nashville and Memphis East finished in a tie for first in the Class A girls with 78 points apiece while CSAS was eighth with 31 and Sale Creek ninth with 27.5. Brainerd was 11th with 22 while Tyner was 14th with 18.5 and CSLA 16th with 16.
Memphis East won the Class A boys title with 110 points while Union City was second with 72 and Tyner third with 46. South Pittsburg was eighth with 24 while CSAS was ninth with 22 and Brainerd 20th with 13 points.
Signal Mountain’s girls made it a three-peat, but it wasn’t easy as MLK was nipping at their heels the entire day. The Lady Royals never got the lead, but were within four points at 70-66 late in the day.
Signal Mountain coach Dustin Carpenter knew that his girls were the favorite coming in, but he also knows that nothing is guaranteed in a meet like this, regardless of the qualifying times and distances. He was just happy to see his kids finish first again.
“I don’t like to count too far ahead,” he said before the meet ended when told that his competition only had one entry in the last few events.
“I knew we were the favorites coming in, but that doesn’t always mean much. We just take it one event at a time, but we really had a good day today. We just had to execute our game plan and we did that for the most part.
“I’m sure there are spots where we could have done better, but we just kept doing our thing and it all worked out just fine,” he added.
Sophomore Marlee Burkley was the main contributor for the Signal girls as she won the 100 high hurdles and finished second in the 300 intermediates while finishing seventh in the long jump. She had put her team in first place last week by winning the pentathlon.
“This is a really big surprise,” the 17-year-old sophomore said after winning the first hurdle event.
“I was ready to run and I was confident going in, but it’s been a great season so far. The 300 is my only event left and we’ll see how that goes as I’ve only done that event three times so far,” she nodded.
CSAS junior Fiona Eastman had a good day as she won the pole vault for the second straight year before winning the 100 hurdles in 15.59 seconds and taking second in the 300s with a time of 47.38 seconds.
“I won at 11-6 last year, so I wanted to clear 11-7 today,” the Lady Patriot junior said after celebrating her 17th birthday last Friday.
“I’m glad I got the pieces to click, so I’m happy to make everything work,” she added.
Eastman may have been more intent on winning the 100 hurdles after finishing second the past two springs.
“I’m glad that I got off to a fast start, but I was just playing it safe at the end as I certainly didn’t want to fall. But I’ve had a great day and that second in the 300s was a PR by a second and a half, so I’m thrilled,” she nodded with a smile.
Brainerd’s Danielle Dunning was another repeat winner as she took first in the 100 dash at 12.03 seconds. She had been injured most of the season, but had just gotten back to full speed in recent days.
“I’ve been hurt and it’s been a tough season. It wasn’t my best time, but I’m thankful for how things turned out. I wasn’t completely healed until last week, so I’m really happy,” the slender junior said.
CSAS sophomore Ashton Biggs led the 1600 run for the first three laps and looked really strong in doing so before getting passed by Liberty Creek’s Jaden Hillis as he finished second in 4:36.34 to the winning time of 4:36.20. He made sure not to make that mistake again in the 800.
“That guy ran a really strong last lap and I never heard him coming. I really wanted to win, but I’m happy that I got a PR. And on that second race, I gave it all I had, but think I would have died if I lost it the same way as the first one. But I got a PR by two seconds in that one, so I’m happy,” he added.
Sale Creek’s Eisa Eilertson had a great start last week by winning the Class A Pentathlon, but didn’t have her best day on Tuesday after finishing fourth in all three events she was entered, including the long jump, high jump and 100 high hurdles.
CSLA’s Kennedi Winbush won the 200 dash in 25.60 seconds after finishing third in the 100 while Tyner’s Joslyn Brookins was second in the high jump after clearing 4-10. Soddy Daisy’s Tatum Croft posted a time of 2:20.47 to take third in the AA 800.
Joshua Pote won the 1600 in 4:28.31 and had good support from teammates DiAngelo Cisto and Tynan Borders, who finished second and sixth, respectively, to lead the Signal Mountain boys.
Pote later posted a time of 10:17.87 to finish fifth in the 3200.
“I just tried to go out smooth and to take my teammates with me as I wasn’t really concerned with time,” he said after his first-place finish.
While the Class A and AA competition was held for boys and girls on Tuesday, the Division II teams will be in action on Wednesday where McCallie is favored to win the AA meet, but will have to defeat a really strong Christian Brothers team.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)