2016 Walker County Track Athletes of the Year
It’s one thing to set goals of winning state championships. It’s another to go out and actually do it.
But for recent Gordon Lee graduate Madelyn Lee, it was mission accomplished in 2016.
Lee, who will be attending and competing for the Mississippi State University track and field team later this fall, was an easy choice for this year’s Walker County Girls’ Track Athlete of the Year award.
Lee, who finished second in Class 2A in both the shot put and discus at the 2015 state finals, simply dominated the competition in her final year in Chickamauga and capped it with state championships in her two specialties in Albany back in early May.
In the state shot put, Lee was the only competitor to surpass 40 feet and she topped the 42-foot mark on five of her six attempts. Her third throw of 44-9 proved to be the winning mark.
Then in the discus, all six of her throws traveled at least 123 feet with her fifth throw of 132-feet, 5-inches turning out to be her winning throw.
Even going into the state meet as the prohibitive favorite, Lee admitted to having a bit of butterflies.
“For me, it was hard not to be a little nervous because it was a big meet,” she said. “But going in, I just tried to keep faith that I had worked hard enough and trust that God had put the ability in me.”
stood since 1999.
But it was at the Region 7-4A meet in April at Southeast Whitfield where Davis gave his performance of the season and exorcised the demons of his sophomore campaign.
In the 2015 region championship, the Panthers took the first day lead. But in the first track final of Day 2 — the 4x100 — Davis pulled up with a hamstring injury halfway through the anchor leg and hobbled to the line. His day finished, Ridgeland limped home with a fifth-place finish in the team standings.
One year later, a healthy Davis made a world of difference for the Panthers as he helped account for a whopping 38 points in the meet and earn Ridgeland the region runner-up trophy.
He took second
place in the high jump at 6-feet in Day 1 and came out smoking on Day 2. He ran the anchor leg of the 4x100 (43.34), giving the Panthers the win. He later took first place in the 100, clocking at 11.32, and ended his day with 10 more points for winning the hurdles in a time of 15.30.
“(Last year) motivated me hard,” Davis recalled. “Every time I was in the weight room, even out here on the field, I thought about it. I just pushed hard to do what I had to do and, luckily, I didn’t hurt myself.”
Davis went on to qualify for state in the hurdles at sectionals, clocking in with a season-best time of 14.75 and ended up on the podium in Jefferson with an eighth-place finish.
“I first met him when I was coaching football at Chattanooga Valley when he was in sixth grade and I’ve watched him grow ever
since,” said Ridgeland track coach Bill Oliver. “He was fast, from a football standpoint, but then he got on the track and I could see how fast he really was.
"He showed genuine love for (running) track, so we got him some extra (coaching) help on the finer points of the hurdles.”
Davis said that he trying to do his part to help Ridgeland potentially earn a region track title next spring.
“We have a lot of young kids coming up that really like to run (track),” he said. “I try to push them in the weight room and stay on them to keep the momentum going for the team.”
He’s also starting to gain a little momentum himself for a future college track career. He currently has one offer from a school in Nashville, but others are starting to take an interest in the rising senior.
“I’d love to pursue track in college and I plan to,” he said. “I have the one offer right now, but I’m (competing) with USA Track right now and doing a lot of workouts.”
"Things just come naturally to him," Oliver added, "and I think he’ll just get better and better as he gets older and matures some more."
But before any college meets, there will be one more opportunity for Davis to win a high school state championship and Oliver believes his pupil certainly has a chance to fulfill that dream.
"He's worked really hard in the weight room and he’s gotten stronger," Oliver explained. "Can he win state as a senior? I don’t know. There are a lot of really fast guys (at the state meet), but he’s had times under 15 seconds (in the 110 hurdles) so I think he’s got a chance if he keeps putting in the work."