KNOXVILLE – The TSSAA’s Spring Fling got underway at Tom Black Track on the campus of the University on Tuesday, and for Greene County Athletes the most exciting week of prep sports began with three state championships at the Class A and Class AA State Track and Field Meet.
The day started with West Greene’s Nevaeh Rowe winning the Class A pole vault, South Greene’s Alexa Gabbard followed with a state title in the Class A triple jump, and then Greeneville’s Trey Bailey finished the day by repeating as the Class AA 3,200 meter state champion.
“It’s special to win a state championship,” Bailey said. “We’ve been training since December. And after months and months of hard work its nice to see that reward. I mean, I know the work has made me better, but its nice to have a gold medal to go along with that.”
In the penultimate event of the night Bailey added to his already impressive running resume, by capturing his third state championship. A year ago Bailey captured his first state title by winning the 3,200 in Murfreesboro, in the fall he took home the Class AA Cross Country state championship in Memphis, and on Tuesday he pulled away in the final lap to bring home gold in the 3,200 meters again.
“I think ecstatic would be the best word to describe this,” Bailey said. “I knew this was the goal coming in. I ran my favorite type of race, nice and controlled, then in that last lap I went guns blazing and dropped the hammer.”
Tuesday’s eight-lap race began with Bailey settling into the pack and letting Station Camp’s Caden Costello set the pace. Then at the midway point Bailey made his move and began to make the other seven runners chase him.
“I knew I wanted to create a pace that wasn’t a jog. Things were starting to slow down and my brain just said it’s time to get in first. I made the move and never looked back,” Bailey said.
When the eighth lap began it was a two-man race with Montgomery Central’s Avery Young on his hip. As the lap went on Bailey’s lead grew. With 200 meters left the Greene Devil was comfortably in front, and with 100 meters left Bailey had left the rest of the field in his dust. He finished in 9:23.66, more than five seconds ahead of second place.
“I didn’t know who was on my hip, but I knew I had to go,” Bailey said. “It’s what I did last year and it worked out really well, so I came in with that mindset. In that last lap it was about dropping the hammer and making it hurt. It was a great race.”
Bailey was second in the 1,600 meters on Tuesday. He led early, but over the final 600 meters Martin Luther King’s Wyatt Boling pulled away and claimed the state title with a time of 4:15.10 to Bailey’s 4:17.65.
Greeneville’s 4×800 meter relay team of Bailey, Grant Tunnell, Jesse Reneau and Isaac Gibson placed fourth.
Tuesday started with a Greene-County heavy Class A girls pole vault where four locals earned medals and West Greene’s Rowe finished on top of the podium.
“It feels really great to win today. I came in really nervous, but after the first jump everything felt easy. I think it helped to have the South Greene girls there and we were encouraging each other.”
Rowe and Hapy Valley’s Aaliyah Rangel separated themselves from the field at 7’0”. They both cleared 7’6” and when the West Greene freshman got over the bar on her second attempt at 8’0’ she knew the gold medal was in her grasp. Rangel failed on her three attempts at 8’0” which delivered the title to Rowe.
“I was happy to be here, but I once cleared eight feet I couldn’t even control my excitement. That felt so great,” Rowe said.
Rowe went on to clear 8’6”, equaling the West Greene program record. Now she looks forward to working in the offseason and defending her title with even bigger numbers next year.
“It feels great to win today, now hopefully I’ll just keep going up,” Rowe said.
South Greene’s Sienna Gabbard was third in the Class A girls pole vault, South Greene’s Miranda Metcalf was fifth and South Greene’s Eva Weems was seventh.
South Greene’s Alexa Gabbard came into Tuesday’s state championship meet with one state championship already under belt after winning the state title in the Class A Pentathlon last week. She added to that resume with some huge leaps in the Class A triple jump.
“It feels really good to be a state champion. Coming in I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do it, and winning today was really nice,” Gabbard said. “It feels amazing to know that I had my best jump here. It’s very rewarding and I’m very proud of myself. I have to thank coach (Joe) Case for getting me to this point”
Gabbard not only had the best jump of the day, but she had the second best as well as she beat Ca’Lae Ervin of Union City by 10 inches.
Her winning jump went 35’5.5”, that was not only her best jump ever, but it broke Haley Kells’ school record as well.
“I knew I just had to focus on what I had to do and run as hard as I could into the jump. To get out set a new school record at the state meet is very exciting,” Gabbard said.
Natalie Foshie cemented her legacy in North Greene athletics history on Tuesday with a second-place finish in the girls discus.
The silver medal equals the best finish North Greene has ever had at the state meet, matching Mary Ann Bailey Hall who was second in the 1981 high jump. Foshie is North Greene’s first state medalist since 1982 after the program was brought back from a decades-long hiatus.
Second place is also the best North Grenee has performed on the state level in any sport, individual or team.
“I’m glad I was able to be a part of getting this program going again. It will be something I can look back on and see how it grows from here,” Foshie said. “I’m proud to be part of school history, but I couldn’t have done it without everybody else. As a senior those were my last four throws ever and it feels pretty good to go out with a medal.”
On Tuesday Foshie’s throws got bigger as the day went on and she finished with a heave of 111’11”. When it landed she was within a foot of first place, but on the final throw of the day Tellico Plains Marlerie Wiseman uncorked a heave of 126’0”. Foshie was more than 10 feet ahead of third place, and the top placers on Tuesday came from the East Sectional.
This was the second year in a row that Foshie came in second place in the Class A discus. Last year she competed for South Greene.
In the first event of the day South Greene’s Noah Case placed sixth in the Class A 3,200 meters.
In the Class A boys shot put South Greene’s Heath Norton was fifth and South Greene’s Tripp Neas was sixth. In the Class A boys discus Parker McMurry of Chuckey-Doak was sixth.
In the Class A boys pole vault Chuckey-Doak’s Elijah Barker was fourth and South Greene’s Colton Green was sixth.
In the Class AA boys 110 meter hurdles Greeneville’s Mason Marion finished in seventh place. In the Class A 300 meter hurdles Chuckey-Doak’s Landon Brown was seventh.
In the Class A girls 4×800 meter relay South Greene’s Alexa Gabbard, Sienna Gabbard, Chelsea Metcalf and Ava Leasure placed eighth.
In the Class A mixed 4×400 meter relay South Greene place sixth.
As a team the South Greene girls came in the seventh place. Pearl Cohn won the team state title and Tyner was second.
The South Greene boys were 10th in Class A while Tyner won the team state championship and Union City was second.
The Greeneville boys came in eighth place in Class AA. Millington Central placed first as a team and Station Camp was second.
Station Camp won the Class AA girls state championship and Signal Mountain was second.
