Culbreath stars for Lady Red Raiders
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Baylor senior Evie Culbreath will bring home four individual state track and field championships this year, and the University of North Carolina signee nearly led the Lady Red Raiders to their first Division II-AA team title since 2011.
Culbreath’s dominance continued Wednesday at Middle Tennessee State University’s track, just six days after she broke her own school record in her second straight pentathlon state championship at Brentwood Academy.
In the morning field events for DII-AA at MTSU, Culbreath won the long jump with a final leap of 18 feet, 8 3/4 inches and also won the high jump as she cleared 5-4. In the evening’s running events, she dominated the 110-meter hurdles with a first-place time of 14.14 seconds, just .08 second off her personal best. She later took third in the 300 hurdles.
“I started track in the sixth grade and didn’t really know what I was doing,” Culbreath said. “I never dreamed I would make it to North Carolina on a track and field scholarship. Once I got to high school is when I started figuring it all out and working harder and harder. My experiences in this sport have been amazing.”
The Lady Red Raiders finished with 113 team points, just five off state champion Harpeth Hall. Culbreath accounted for 46 of Baylor’s points at the Spring Fling.
Culbreath’s teammate Mae
Mae Powe started the morning off by winning the 3200 in 10:55.70, four seconds ahead of Harpeth Hall’s Lily Bowen. Powe’s personal best time of 10:49.30 in the 3200 at the Volunteer Track Classic earlier this year broke a 12-year-old school record held by Hannah Jumper.
In DII-AA boys’ competition Wednesday, McCallie’s 4x200 relay team — Dorian Furr, Andrew Smith, Caughran Fowler and Kavan Reynolds, in that order — set a school record with a time of 1:27.28 as they won the state title for that event. The Blue Tornado finished second in the overall team race with 110 points, while Christian Brothers won with 128.
“We kept working and stayed positive all season,” Furr said. “To go out with a school record really means a lot. We excelled in relays and really grinded to get to where we are now.”
Silverdale Baptist sophomore Liam Runkle won a DII-A state championship in the 110 hurdles with a personal record of 15.15. He also finished second in the 300 hurdles.
Other second-place finishers for Chattanooga-area programs were Boyd Buchanan’s Lesley Burton (shot put) and Ireland O’Connor (high jump) and Notre Dame’s Kenny Hammond (triple jump) in DII-A, as well as McCallie’s Kendrick Reynolds (300 hurdles) and Kavan Reynolds (400).
Three area teams also finished runner-up in a relay: Baylor girls (4x400), McCallie (4x800) and Boyd Buchanan boys (4x100).