Cherokee All the Smoky Mountain Conference track and field teams headed to Cherokee High School for the championship track meet on May 1.
Local schools scored well, but could not catch the winners, Swain County. Murphy scored the highest for the Cherokee County teams with 98 points for the boys, who placed third; and 90 points for the girls, who placed fourth. Andrews was behind them, with the boys scoring 65.5 points and the girls scoring 60. The Andrews boys placed fifth, and the girls tied for fifth with Cherokee. Tri-County Early College boys finished eighth with 15 points, and the girls finished seventh with 21 points. Hiwassee Dam boys finished ninth with 14 points.
The Bulldogs had three conference champions in Corrine Cotton in the 400-meter dash; Jordan Olivier in the wheelchair 100m dash, wheelchair discus and wheelchair shot put; and Camden Breazeale in the 300m hurdles.
The Wildcats excelled in the field events, with most of their first-place finishes coming in field competition. Logan Shuler placed first in the high jump, while Samuel Preston finished first in long jump and first in triple jump. Their only non-field event first-place finish was the girls 4x100m relay.
Tri-County and Hiwassee Dam didn’t have any first-place finishes, but they did have athletes who posted good results in their events.
Murphy
The Bulldogs had multiple good finishes on both the boys and girls side of the team. Cameron Clem finished second in the 100m dash, while Cale Harger finished third in the 200m dash. Breazeale finished second in the 110m hurdles, while Brody Orton finished in third in the discus. The boys relay teams finished third in the 4x100m, 4x200m and 4x400m relays.
On the girls side, Cayla Greer finished second in the 100m dash, while Cotton finished third in the 200m dash. The 4x200m girls relay team finished second to round out the podium finishes.
Regional qualifiers from Murphy are Gabby Lloyd, Aiden Smith, Ansley Roper, Saige Kent, Brody Orton, Aaron Harger, Cale Harger, Breeze Hinton, Cayla Greer, Ivy Werner, Cameron Clem, Chandler Nernes, Camden Breazeale, Will Shore, Corrine Cotton and Jordan Oliver.
Andrews
Along with Preston’s two first-place finishes, he also got fourth in the 100m dash. O’Malley Salinas finished in third in the 800m run and fourth in the 1,600m run. The 4x100m boys relay team finished in fifth and the 4x200m and 4x400m relay teams finished in sixth. Myca Mustin finished in fifth in the triple jump.
On the girls sides, Kylie Donaldson finished in third in the 100m dash, third in long jump and sixth in triple jump. Kaiya Ellis finished in second in the 100m hurdles and ninth in the triple jump. Alex Beasley finished third in shot put.
Beth Shook finished fifth in long jump and eighth in triple jump. The girls 4x200m and 4x400m relay teams both finished in fourth.
Regional qualifiers include Alexis Beasley, Demi Davis, Kylie Donaldson, Beth Shook, Kaiya Ellis, Samuel Preston, Myca Mustin, Caleb Helton, Logan Shuler, Jesus Jimenez and O’Malley Salinas.
Tri-County
The Jaguars’ track and field team didn’t have any first-place finishes at the meet, but they did have some good results. The 4x400m and 4x800m boys relay teams both finished fourth, and their 4x200m boys relay team finished fifth. Landon Spies finished eighth in the 1,600m run, while Logan DiCicco finished ninth in the 400m dash.
On the girls side, Fern Crayton did well in the distance runs. She finished fourth in both the 1,600m and 3,200m runs, as well as sixth in the 800m run. In the 400m dash, Marah Jones finished eighth, while Jaden Crocker was ninth. The 4x400m girls relay team finished in third.
Tri-County’s regional meet qualifiers are Fern Crayton and Landan Spies, as well as their boys and girls relay teams.
Hiwassee Dam
The Eagles track and field team sent three athletes to the conference championship. Ethan Russell continued showing his strength in the distance events with a second-place finish in the 3,200m run and a third-place finish in the 1,600m.
Travis Allen also competed in those distance events and got 11th in the 3,200m and 15th in the 1,600m. Their two girl athletes competed in the discus, with Ava Pressley getting 21st and Miranda Landon getting 23rd place.
Russell qualified for the regional meet after his time in the distance events.
The next event for Smoky Mountain Conference track and field athletes is the 1A West Regional meet at Montreat College in Black Mountain on Saturday.