Andrews – In the first Smoky Mountain Conference track meet of the season, Andrews hosted fellow Cherokee County squad Tri-County Early College along with three other teams. The meet saw strong results in track and field events for both Andrews and Tri-County to kick off their string of conference meets.
Andrews had six first-place finishes. Kylie Donaldson finished first in the 100-meter dash, Beth Shook finished first in long jump, Alexis Beasley got first in shot put and the 4x100m relay team also got first.
On the boys side, Logan Shuler got first in high jump, breaking the school record that he set last year. Samuel Preston also got first in the triple jump.
For Tri-County, Jaden Crocker got them their only first place with a strong performance in discus. Crocker won the event by 10 feet.
Along with the first place finishes, Andrews and Tri-County had numerous top-5 finishes in both track and field events.
For Andrews girls, Allie Gibson and Hannah Talkington finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 200m dash. In the 100m hurdles, Kaiya Ellis and Hannah Talkington finished second and fourth place, respectively. In the 300m hurdles, Riley Thompson finished in fifth. The 4x200m girls relay finished second and the 4x400m girls relay finished in third.
Kaiya Ellis also finished fourth in the high jump. Kylie Donaldson placed second in the long jump. In the triple jump, Kylie Donaldson finished second, Kaiya Ellis finished in third and Beth Shook finished in fifth. In shot put, the Wildcats took the top two spots with Demi Davis finishing in second place.
For Andrews boys, Samuel Preston finished second and Isaac Patrick finished fourth in the 100m dash. In the 200m dash, Isaac Patrick got fourth and Phisher Baxter got fifth. In the 800m run, Myca Mustin got fourth. Jesus Jimenez had two top-5 finishes in hurdles. He got second in the 110m and fifth in the 300m hurdles.
In triple jump, Myca Mustin got second place. William Wood got two top-5s in the field events. Wood got third in discus and fourth in shot put. In the 400m really and 800m relay, they got third. In the 1600m relay, they got fifth. In the 3200m, or two mile run, O’Malley Salinas got second place.
In overall points, both Andrews teams finished in third place. The boys team had 59 points and the girls team had 75 points.
Andrews track head coach Reagan Lindsay said the athletes who competed did well and showed improvement from their last meet.
“I think they did very well! The majority of athletes improved from their first meet at Montreat with new personal records. Our athletes’ physicality is great,” Lindsay said. “We mainly need to improve specific mechanics like handoffs – it’s a good challenge to have as a coach and athlete because it’s so specific and shows the most obvious improvements, and it means our athletes’ conditioning is already where it needs to be.”
Lindsay said the athletes who stood out to him in last week’s meet, but said there were more who showed improvement and had good performances.
On the girls side, he said, “Alexis Beasley because she qualified for regionals in her first contest, and performed wonderfully in three relays. Beth Shook for her dramatic improvement in the long jump since the Montreat meet. Sharon Um for the way she pushed herself in every event and even volunteered to run the 4x4. Kylie Donaldson for her improvement and victory in the 100m since the Montreat meet. Kaiya Ellis for her performance in the High Jump. Allie Gibson for her strong performance in the 4x100m.”
On the boys side, Lindsay said, “Ethan Barton for his dramatic improvement in the open 400m and his leg of the 4x4 within a single week. Jesus Jimenez for his full five-second improvement in the 300m Hurdles within a single week. Logan Shuler for his victory in the High Jump, beating the previous school record in that event which he himself set last season. Myca Mustin for his overall improvement in every single event and being such a dynamic, dependable athlete. Brady Mclelland for his nearly 2-foot improvement in Long Jump within a single week.”
For the TCEC girls, Fern Crayton got third place in the 800m run and fifth in the 1600m run. Jaden Crocker, along with her first place in discus, got fourth place in the 400m dash. Bryanna Jamie got fifth place in the 400m dash. On the boys side, Sebastian Clevez got second place in the 400m dash to round out their top-5s.
For the three relays that the girls team ran in, they got fourth in the 4x200m, 4x400m and 4x800 meter relays.
In overall points, the Tri-County boys team finished in fifth with 13 points, while the girls team finished in fourth with 21 points.
Tri-County track coach Mark Bolyard said the team had a solid performance at the meet. Some of the athletes who stood out to him were Sebastian Clevez, Jaden Crocker, Fern Crayton and Bryanna Jamie for their performances in their events.
At 3:30 p.m. today, both teams will compete in the second conference meet of the season at Hayesville.