Track dominance sends Gordon Lee boys to NGAC track championship

After finishing Day 1 in fourth place with 22 points, the Gordon Lee Trojans blew away the competition on the track this past Wednesday evening at Heritage to win the 2017 NGAC championship.

The Trojans won seven of the eight running finals and ended the meet with 128 points, easily outdistancing second-place Ringgold (89).

Heritage (82.5) took home third, followed by LaFayette (58), Chattanooga Valley (53.5), Lakeview (25), Saddle Ridge (17) and Rossville (14).

The Trojans got double wins from sprinter Griffin Collins and distance specialist Jake Lee. Collins swept the 100 (12.56) and the 200 (25.47), while Lee took first in the 800 (2:19.73) and the 1600 (5:17).

Kameron Oliver raced to a win in the 400 (57.66), while the 4x100 relay team also took first (49.16).

The 4x400 relay team then put the icing on the cake by winning the last event of the meet in 3:59, becoming the first Gordon Lee Middle School team to ever break four minutes in the event and setting a new school record by a whopping eight seconds.

Garrison Dendy was second in the 800 (2:20.45), while Ryan Eldridge was second in the 400 (59.47). Brady Jacobs picked up third-place points in the 100 (12.59) and the 200 (26.34).

Ringgold’s Gabe Elmore put on another outstanding performance in the 100 hurdles, winning the event by more than two full seconds as he clocked in at 14.31.

The conference win came less than a week after he took third at the Middle School state championships at Parkview High School in the 110 hurdles with a time of 14.7.

His teammate Taylor Cribb (16.65) was second to Elmore in the hurdles, while the Tigers’ 4x100 relay team (49.72) was second and the 4x400 relay team (4:16) was third.

Heritage was second in the 4x400 relay (4:13), while Joel Lewis was third in the 800 (2:28.15) and the 1600 (5:33). LaFayette got a pair of thirdplace finishes by Jacob Moses in the hurdles (16.97) and Lucas Dierking in the 400 (59.75).

Jeremiah Turner was runner-up in the 100 (12.59) and the 200 (25.96) for Chattanooga Valley. Josh Perea was second in the 1600 for Saddle Ridge (5:25), while Lakeview’s 4x100 relay team placed third (51.40).

In the field events held on Tuesday, Elmore won both the high jump (5-2) in a tiebreaker and also claimed the long jump (18-11), while his Ringgold teammate, William House, picked up 10 points for a win in the discus (117-7). House also placed second in the shot put (35-7 1/2).

Heritage’s Griffin Black cleared 5-2 in the jump, but lost out to Elmore on the tiebreaker. The Generals also got third-place points from Jonathan Washburn in the shot put.

Nate Montgomery got a win for Chattanooga Valley in the shot put (36-1), while Cash Montgomery was second in the discus (112-7).

For the Ramblers, Eli Prince was third in the discus (105-9 1/2), while Jaylon Ramsey was third in the high jump (5-0).

Jacobs got a runner-up showing for Gordon Lee in the long jump (175) and Kyle Pursley was third for Lakeview in the long jump (16-9).