MARYVILLE – Several local track and field athletes had strong showings at Eagleton College and Career Academy on Tuesday in the Class A East Sectional track meet and secured their spots in the state championship meet.
The Class A State Championship meet will be held on Tuesday, May 19 at the University of Tennessee’s Tom Black Track in Knoxville.
Senior Alexa Gabbard led a strong showing for South Greene by winning the triple jump on Tuesday.
It is one of four events in which Gabbard will have a chance to win a state championship. She had previously qualified for the state pentathlon. She was on the 4×800 relay team with Ava Leasure, Sienna Gabbard and Chelsea Metcalf that finished second on Tuesday. The South Greene 4×400 mixed relay team of Alexa Gabbard, Leasure, Tripp Neas and Noah Case placed second and clinched a state championship berth.
“This is what I hoped to do today, and it feels good to reach that goal,” Gabbard said. “It’s going to be a lot over the next couple of weeks. So the first thing I need to focus on is rest. Then it will be working on technique in every event and making sure I go down there healthy.”
In the pole vault West Greene’s Nevaeh Rowe and South Greene’s Sienna Gabbard both qualified for state by finishing first and second respectively on Tuesday. The freshmen both set personal best marks on the biggest stage of their track careers.
For North Greene, which revived its track program this year, Natalie Foshie became the first Lady Husky to qualify for state in 44 years. Foshie came up with one big throw on Tuesday and placed second in the discus. This will be her fourth straight trip to the state championship meet, after previously qualifying with South Greene.
“I haven’t done what I expected all year, but its exciting to be going to state. It felt good to get a throw out there on my third attempt and kind of separate myself. I really needed that to take a lot of stress off. I’m really happy right now. We’re throwing at UT this year and I’m really excited about that. I think that will be pretty cool.”
South Greene’ Heath Norton finished in second in the shot put and Chuckey-Doak’s Landon Brown was second in the 300 meter hurdles. Both will be competing in Knoxville in two weeks.
A year ago Norton placed fourth at the state meet and on Tuesday he turned in his best throw of the season to get back to state as a senior.
The top two finishers in each event automatically qualify for the state championship meet. Once all three state sectionals are complete the next two top finishers from across the state in each event will earn at-large bids. That leaves dozens more from Greene County waiting to see if their season will continue.
As a team both the South Greene boys and girls finished in third place.
In the boys standings Chattanooga Tyner was first with 137 points, Chattanooga Prep was second with 84 points and South Greene was third with 72 points.
In the girls standings University High was first with 149 points, Tyner was second with 130 points and South Greene was third with 95 points.
