MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Let’s just be kind and say that Mother Nature was the biggest winner here for the 2025 Spring Fling on Tuesday.
Stormy weather with heavy rain and tornado warnings and predictions of baseball-sized hail made the first day of track at the Dean Hayes Track and Soccer Stadium quite an event. Thankfully, none of that hail came down, but there were several weather delays with horrible weather in the area and track action for all A and AA teams was suspended early Tuesday evening without finishing.
The meet will resume at noon on Wednesday. Racing was suspended during the 400 dash, so it will begin there.
As we stand right now, the Signal Mountain Lady Eagles are leading the AA girls with 62 points. Station Camp is a close second with 57.5 while MLK and Tennessee High are next with 48 and 46 points, respectively.
Signal Mountain coach Dustin Carpenter was really hesitant to make many comments with so many races to be held, but he was really proud of the way his girls had performed as they shoot for their second straight state title and fourth of the past five.
“We’re doing alright right now, but we still need to run some more events,” he said while coaches and TSSAA officials gathered to discuss the suspension and plans to finish on Wednesday.
“It’s been a great day for us so far as the kids have performed really well. We just need to come back and take care of business tomorrow,” he added.
While the team title is yet to be determined, there were several really great individual performances, including those by Signal’s Marlee Burkley, CSAS’s Fiona Eastman, Brainerd’s Danielle Dunning and Tyner’s Kohl Ward.
Burkley got things rolling early by breezing to the pentathlon championship last week before winning the 100 high hurdles and then the high jump. She still has the 300 hurdles to go.
Eastman was second in the pentathlon before winning the pole vault for the second straight year and then the 100 high hurdles in a driving rain.
Dunning set a TSSAA record by winning the 100 dash for the fourth straight year while Ward was first in the triple jump and later third in the 100 high hurdles.
“I was feeling really good today and let the win in the hurdles race sort of take my mind off the high jump,” she said after taking first with a time of 15.44 seconds in the 100 highs. She then won the high jump for the second year after setting a personal record by clearing 5-8.
“I really got a lot of confidence when I cleared 5-8, so hopefully I’ll be able to get 5-10 next year,” she added.
Eastman won the pole vault last year by clearing 11-7, but stopped after clearing 10-6 and earning first place. She won the high hurdles with a time of 14.94, despite a driving rain right into her face.
“I just needed to do what I’m capable of doing, so that’s why I stopped at 10-6. I still have two other events,” she began.
“It wasn’t my best time, but it was raining really hard and I just had to keep my calm. I had water in my eyes, but I just had to run my race and was a little bit more cautious because of the weather.
Dunning is simply poetry in motion as she’s totally dominated the 100 dash in the past four years with very little competition. She’s already committed to run for Vanderbilt, but quickly said that she knows she can still run faster.
“My goal today was to just focus on my race and make a little history. I knew it was going to be my day as soon as I got out of the blocks,” she said after her winning performance.
Ward was in third place in the triple jump as he approached his final attempt, but the 16-year-old sophomore more than made up for it with a personal record by four inches.
“My first three jumps weren’t that good, but I cranked it up on that last one. I’ve trained my whole life for this moment as I’m just trying to make a name for myself, but I’m really happy with the way things turned out,” he said.
Tyner’s Joslyn Brookins cleared 5-2 to win the high jump after finishing second last year at 5-0.
“It was good. I was a little nervous, but it turned out okay,” she smiled.
Signal Mountain’s Hudson Sveadas was second in both the shot put and discus events, but more happy with the discus after breaking a school record and a personal best by some seven inches with a best effort of 173 feet, nine inches. He had the best qualifying mark in the shot at 59-4, but settled for second with a best toss of 57-1.
“I’m pretty happy with that. My goal at the start was to score 16 points for my team and I was able to do that. I was hoping to win, but I’m happy with second. I had a good warmup before the discus and got a PR while setting the school record,” he said after the winner had a best toss of 177-4.
“I knew when I saw that other guy warming up in the shot that I would have a tough time winning unless something crazy happened. He won with a toss of 62-1 while his second best was 60-11.5, so I’m still happy. I was solid, but not great,” he smiled.
Brainerd’s Alexander Powell had a time of 15.50 seconds in winning the 110 high hurdles while the Lady Panthers posted a time of 48.16 to win the 400 relay.
Tyner’s Adajah Nixon was second behind Eastman in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.60 while CSLA’s Kennedi Winbush was second behind Dunning in the 100 with a 12.41
Hixson’s Matthew Murphy had a best jump of 45 feet, 4.5 inches to take second in the triple jump.
While the A and AA meets will conclude at noon, competition for the Division II teams will begin at their normal times of 9 a.m. with the first round of field events.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)