KNOXVILLE – South Greene senior Alexa Gabbard was in peak form on Wednesday afternoon on her way to laying claim to the title of the best athlete on Class A.
Competing in the Class A State Pentathlon Gabbard ran away from the field and left Hardin Valley Academy with a gold medal around her neck.
“I’m really happy right now, this is everything I’ve ever worked for,” Gabbard said. “I’m so excited right now. It means a lot to me be a state champion, and I know it means a lot to coach (Joe) Case. I’m glad I get to share this with him.”
Gabbard scored 2,309 points to claim her state championship, that was 404 ahead of Happy Valley’s Jordan Fields in second place.
“It was all about just staying focused on each event and doing what I know I’m capable of,” Gabbard said.
Gabbard got her day started with a second-place finish in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 18.0 seconds.
Next up Gabbard finished in a six-way tie for third place in the high jump with a leap up 1.37 meters. That created a logjam in the standings with Gabbard sitting in second place. She was seven points behind Marquesyonna Horton of Stratford, but four athletes were within 30 points of first place.
It was in the long jump where Gabbard separated herself from the pack. On her third and final attempt she got out to 4.93 meters, which was a half meter beyond anyone else in state-championship contention. Her second-best jump of 4.79 meters would also have been good enough to win the event.
Once the long jump was complete Gabbard was up 140 points on second place and 225 points ahead of third place.
“I didn’t do great in the long jump at the regionals, and it felt great to get a big jump there,” Gabbard said. “It was big to take the lead there and I think that made me more confident.
Next up was the shot put and that is where Gabbard shut the door on the rest of her opponents. She heaved the metal sphere 7.94 meters. She was .56 meters ahead of Horton and no one else in the field cleared seven meters. That allowed her take a 247 point lead into final event.
“I tried a new technique and it turns out that it worked really well. That felt so rewarding,” Gabbard said.
Gabbard could have coasted, and as long as Happy Valley’s Fields did not run away from her the state championship would be heading to South Greene. Instead she pushed the pace and ran with the front of the pack before finishing fourth in 2:47.9. That put an exclamation mark on Gabbard’s big day.
“It was nice going into the 800 with the lead and knowing that I didn’t have to run anything crazy,” Gabbard said. “I was able to run that with no stress. It felt amazing to run that, and I’m so happy with the way things turned out.”
Gabbard is not done chasing state championships and will be back in action next week at the Class A State Meet in Knoxville. She will compete in the triple jump, 4×800 relay and 4×400 mixed relay.
West Greene freshman Nevaeh Rowe also had a strong showing on Wednesday and collected a fourth-place medal with 1,902 points. She was third in the 800 meters at 2:39.63, and third in the high jump at 1.37 meters.
Three South Greene athletes are competing in the Class A Decathlon which wrapped up its first day of competition on Wednesday at Hardin Valley.
Tripp Neas sits in fourth place with a second-place finish in the discus and third-place finish in the 100 meters.
Ben Ballast is in fifth place. He was third in the discus and fourth in the 100 meters.
Evan Stills in ninth place. He was sixth in both the pole vault and 400 meters.
The decathletes will be back in action on Thursday chasing Adrian Crawford of Union City.
