CHARLESTON — The competition was hot on Saturday afternoon at Laidley Field in the capitol city, but the sun seemed to be hotter as the class A state track and field finals were held. Two local schools, Trinity Christian and Clay-Battelle, were represented on the track and in the field events.
Sophomore Jenna Barnett began the day and followed her top 10 placing in the 3200 meter run with another top 10, this time in the 1600 meters. The girl Warriors team placed ninth overall in the final standings, earning 16 points as a team.
Junior Sofia Pancoast kicked off the scoring for TCS girls by placing fourth in the 400 meter dash on Friday night in session one. She ran a time of 1:01.35 and earned four points for her teams tally.
The 4×200 meter relay team of Avonna Brown, SuCora Brown, Rylen Sharp, and Ella Lynch, took ninth overall in the state with a time of 1:57.32 but didn’t earn any points toward the overall score.
They did secure points in the 4×800 relay however, as the team of three freshman, Lydia Knight, Bethany Byrne, and Rylan Sharp, and sophomore Pancoast took fourth overall with a time of 10:59.07 and earned another four points for the team total.
Barnett got a point on the board with a sixth place finish in the 800 meter race. The Warriors and head coach John Barnett know they are blessed to be able to have 20 athletes representing them on both the boys and girls teams combined. Barnett, a sophomore, says she finds that the team really look to each other for support and she isn’t shy of stepping into a leadership role.
“It’s really nice to all be able to come together and be here again,” Barnett said of her teams excitement across the board. “We are all working together as a team and helping each other out. The freshman are getting nervous but we are trying to just help them out and be a leader. It’s really fun.”
Barnett speaks of leadership for not only her girls teammates, but the boys side as well. Freshmen Chase Livengood and Simon Travis, both made the trip to their first state meet and have taken a lot away from the experience.
Livengood, who’s premiere event is the high jump, says his experience in both track and cross-country is one he won’t forget.
“It’s been incredible and as a freshman it’s not something a lot of people can’t say,” Livengood said. “I normally don’t have a good self-esteem and I had to change my mindset in order to do much better in track. It helps to have all of my teammates here as well.”
Travis competed in the hurdles for TCS, an event he says he just picked up right before regionals.
“The moral support has been great from my team, especially my buddy Chase,” he said. “I actually had never done hurdles until about a month ago and I fell in love with them, they are a lot of fun.”
Junior Levi Teets took eighth-best in the 100 meter dash. The boys side finished 19th overall with seven team points.
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