Hayesville – All of the Smoky Mountain Conference track and field teams converged to compete in a meet on April 17.
The Murphy boys team finished in third place behind Swain and Hayesville. Andrews finished sixth, Hiwassee Dam seventh and Tri-County Early College ninth in the team competition.
The Murphy girls team finished fourth behind Swain, Robbinsville and Hayesville. Andrews was fifth, while Tri-County was seventh.
In the field events, Murphy’s Breeze Hinton finished fifth in the girls high jump. Andrews’ jumper Kaiya Ellis was seventh, while Murphy’s Cloe Crooks was seventh. Hinton hit the 4’10’’ mark, Ellis was at 4’8’’and Crooks hit 4’2’’.
Andrews’ Kylie Donaldson took second in the long jump, with teammate Beth Shook in fourth. Murphy’s Torri Gilliam placed ninth in the long jump with a leap of 12 feet flat, while Tri County’s Marah Jones finished 14th with a jump of 11’2’’.
Lady Wildcat Alexis Beasley took third in the shot put. Lady Bulldog Gabby Lloyd placed eighth at 28.2 feet, while teammate Saige Kent was 11th with a throw of 26’7’’.
Tri-County had two girls place in the event. Emma Smith was 16th with a throw of 23’7’’, while Autumn Fowler finished 18th with a throw of 22’11’’. Nantahala’s Summer McMahan was 19th with a throw of 21’2’’, and Hiwassee Dam’s Miranda Landon was 21st with a throw of 17’10.50’’. Jordan Oliver won the wheelchair shot put with a throw of 5’7’’.
Murphy’s Aiden Smith placed third in the discus with a throw of 86’5’’. Teammate Saige Kent was right behind her at fourth with a throw of 82’, while Ansley Roper of Murphy finished seventh with a throw of 79’4’’. Tri-County had three girls place in the discus as Jaden Croker placed 10th with a throw of 70’6’’, Emma Smith was 18th with a throw of 54’6’’ and Autumn Fowler finished 22nd at 44’2’’.
Summer McMahan of Nantahala placed 19th with a throw of 53’, while Hiwassee Dam’s Miranda Landon finished 23rd with a throw of 40’. Jordan Oliver won the wheelchair discus event with a throw of 12’9’’.
In the boys field events, Andrews’ Logan Shuler again won the high jump. Murphy’s Kenton Nichols finished fifth with a jump of 5’2’, while teammate Grayson Hall finished eighth. Cale Harger finished second in the long jump with a leap of 17’11.50’’, while teammate Kenyon Nichols was sixth at 16’10.50’’.
William Boyd of Tri-County was 12th at 15’0’’, and teammate Landon McCoy was 14’4.5’’. Andrews’ Samuel Preston won the triple jump, while teammate Myca Mustin took fourth. Kenyon Nichols finished eighth in the triple jump with a leap of 33’10’’, and his teammate Chandler Nernes finished 10th at 33’2.50’’
Brody Orton of Murphy finished seventh in the shot put with a throw of 39’3.25’’, while teammates Aaron Hager was eighth at 37’11’’and Charlie Graves was 11th at 35’7.25’’. Hiwassee Dam’s Aiden Weaver and Dakota Landon finished 15th and 16th with throws of 29’10.50’’ and 29’9’’, respectively.
Nantahala had three athletes place in the event, as Chase McMahan was 20th 26’4.5’’, Jacen Carver was 21st at 25’8’’ and Mathew Pendergrass was 23 at 20’10.5’’. Tri-County’s Julian Arvizu was 22nd at 25’8’’. Aaron Hager took fifth in the discus with a throw of 114’8’, while teammates Brody Orton was 10th at 96’2’’and Richard Queen at 95’6’’.
Nantahala had three in the event as McMahan was 15th at 73’8’’, Carver was 16th at 70’44’’and Pendergrass was 22nd at 53’8’’. Hiwassee Dam’s Weaver was 17th at 68’7’’. Tri-County had two place in the event, as Andrew White finished 20th at 62’5’’ and Arvizu finished 21st at 62’1’’.
In the track events, Tri-County finished in fifth place in the boys 4x800m relay ahead of Murphy, which was sixth in the event. Tri-County finished with a time of 9.55.82, while Murphy finished with a time of 10.80.35.
Andrews’ Kaiya Ellis took second in the 100m hurdles, while Murphy’s Ivy Werner finished fourth in the girls 100m hurdles and Breeze Hinton fifth in the girls 300m hurdles. Zoey Passmore of Nantahala was 10th in the 100m hurdles.
The Murphy boys had three place in the 100m hurdles. Camden Breazeale was second, Will Shore was fourth and Jerry Bui was sixth. Andrews’ Kylie Donaldson won the girls 100m dash.
The Murphy girls had three place in the girls 100m race. Patience Garrett was fifth at 14:07, Rylee Tabor was sixth at 14:19 and Jolie Andrade at 16:19. Nantahala’s Passmore finished ninth at 15.28, while teammates Delany McLean finished 15th at 16:01 and Brysen Newton was 16th at 17:70.
Murphy’s Ryan Payne was second in the 100m boys race at 11:80, while teammates Chandler Nernes was fifth at 11.99 and Cameron Clem was eighth at 12:34. Nantahala’s Hunter Bryant and Cole McCoy finished 17th and 18th, respectively, with times of 14.25 and 14.40. Tri-County’s Julian Arvizu was 19th at 14.88. Jordan Oliver won the wheelchair 100m at 45.98.
In the girls 4x200m relay, Murphy finished only 0.26 seconds behind Swain. The Lady Dogs’ team registered a time of 1:56.81, just behind Swain’s 1:56.54. The boys 4x20m relay had Murphy finished third behind Hayesville and Swain with a time of 1:35.24, while Tri-County was fourth at 1:40.06.
The girls 1,600m had Tri-County with a fifth-place finish, led by Fern Clayton with a time of 5:43.98. Anna Leatherwood of Murphy was 13th with a time of 7:22.14.
Hiwassee Dam’s Ethan Russell suffered his first defeat of the season in the 1,600m, as Swain’s Connor Brown and Carl Baird bested the Eagles’ runner with times of 4:41.55 and 4:44.14. That was ahead of Russell’s time of 4:50.66. Murphy’s Jake Miller was fifth at 5:31.50. Teammates Josiah Niebia, Cole Miller, Jonathan Lamb, Heath Chastain and Carson Chastain finished 14-18th, respectively.
Tri-County’s Landon Spies was sixth with a time of 5:34.03, while Hiwassee Dam’s Travis Allen was 13th at 5:44.30. The girls’ 4x100m relay saw Murphy finishing third, behind Andrews and Robbinsville with a time of 56.64. The boys also netted a third-place finish behind Swain and Hayesville with a time of 46.05.
Lady Bulldog Corinne Cotton won the girls 400m with a time of 1:01.89. Tri-County’s Marah Jones finished fifth in the lady’s race with a time of 1:15.72. Murphy’s Trenton Russell was fourth in the boys 400m with a time of 55.05. Teammate Mason Ray also netted a top-10 finish at sixth with a time of 57.67, and Kamdyn Koop finished in 13th place. Tri-County’s Sebastian Chavez finished fifth with a time of 56.20, while teammates Nathan Downs and William Boyd finished 11th and 12th.
Fern Crayton of Tri-County finished fifth in the girls 800M with a time of 2:40.29, while teammate Ernestina Trigueros finished 10th. Murphy’s Anna Leatherwood was eighth with a time of 3:04.01.
In the boys 800m, Murphy’s Grayson Hall finished 12th and teammates Xander Wachacha, Karsan Chastain and Heath Chastain finished 16th, 17th and 18th, respectively. Tri-County’s Mason Smith finished 15th.
Murphy had two girls place in the 200M, Corinne Cotton finished fourth at 28.65 and Rylee Tabor was sixth at 29.62. Bulldog Cale Harger finished second on the boys 200m with a time of 23.92. His teammates Brady Grant was fourth at 24.33 and Hunter Stalcup finished 10th at 25.98. Tri-County’s Landon McCoy and Arvizu finished 12th and 18th.
Russell won the boys 3,200m with a time of 10:32.83. Eagle teammate Travis Allen was eighth with a time of 13:03.15. Murphy had sixth- and seventh-place finishes by Parker Hughes and Braden Edwards.
TCEC was third in the girls 4x400m relay with a time of 5:07.10. Murphy finished fourth in the boys 4x400m relay, followed by Tri-County’s A and B team in sixth and seventh places.
For their next meet, Andrews will host Hiwassee Dam, Tri-County and Nantahala at 3:30 p.m. today. Murphy will head to Cherokee. This is their last conference meet before next week’s championship, which will be held at Cherokee on Wednesday, May 1.