CHARLESTON — Trinity Christian and Clay-Battelle each were represented by multiple runners in the Class A track and field state meet at Laidley Field in the state’s capital city on Friday evening.
Clay-Battelle senior Jalynn Park competed in the prelims of the 100-meter dash but failed to qualify for the final. C-B did not have any runners advance to a final or place in an event to advance to Saturday’s championships.
For Trinity Christian and head coach John Barnett, 20 athletes made the trip south to compete this weekend, four of which competed Friday. Juniors Levi Teets and Sofia Pancoast running the spring events, sophomore Jenna Barnett running in the 3,200-meter race, and freshman Chase Livengood in the finals of the long jump event.
Livengood began the evening for TCS. His longest attempt came at 19-01.75, which put him in seventh place overall.
Barnett represented the Warriors in the 3,200-meter run, finishing with a time of 13:11.96, placing her in ninth among a very strong field on the top 16 runners. The heat was definitely a factor for all runners as temperatures reached around 95 degrees.
Barnett knows that no matter what, his kids are excited and proud to be at the state meet representing their school.
“They are extremely excited to be here,” Barnett said. “Two years ago with COVID and everything shutting down, we didn’t get to come. Last year, to qualify several athletes was awesome, and this year to have 20 is incredible. Everybody is excited.”
Teets qualified for the finals of both the 100-meter and 200-meter dash. His time of 11.62 was good enough for fourth overall in the prelims of the 100 race and a 23.66 posted time allowed Teets to squeak into the finals of the 200 as the seventh of eight total qualifiers.
“The atmosphere with the state meet is just so exciting. It’s nice being able to push each other to the best of our abilities,” he said. “Being from a small school, it’s amazing how many people we are able to send to states, I really think that just shows how hard we all work throughout the season.”
“It will be a strong field for Levi [today],” his head coach said. “He will also be running in the relays for us and it’s going to be hot so it will matter on who is best with the heat.”
Pancoast joins her teammate Teets, also qualifying for finals in two events. She finished fifth in qualifying for the 200 dash and fourth in the 400.
“Sofia has been running really strong all year. Hopefully she can continue that through the weekend,” Barnett said. “She’s through to the finals in the 200 and she has 400 finals. She will also anchor the 4×400 and 4×800 so there’s a lot on her agenda for sure.”
Pancoast ended up finishing fourth in the 400 with a time of 1:01.35.
The Trinity girls have four points thanks to Pancoast, while the TCS boys, C-B girls and C-B boys haven’t scored any points for placement yet.
TWEET – @ahhh_griff
