FINAL THOUGHTS
Top takeaways for Chattanooga area after big week at the Spring Fling
Chattanooga-area high schools brought home seven team state titles and 40 individual championships this past week at the TSSAA Spring Fling in Murfreesboro.
It was the 31st edition of the Olympic-style event for spring prep sports in Tennessee, which was held in Chattanooga for the first nine years. It spent three years in Memphis before moving to Murfreesboro, where it has remained for nearly two decades.
Despite some weather delays that led to a couple of late nights for athletes, coaches and spectators, the event was held in four days as planned and wrapped up Friday night with all of the honors awarded in baseball, boys’ soccer, softball, tennis, and track and field.
Here are some final thoughts and observations from Times Free Press sports writers Gene Henley and Patrick MacCoon and sports editor Stephen Hargis, who covered this year’s Spring Fling along with chief photographer Robin Rudd.
Division II royalty
Silverdale Baptist Academy (50-3) ended the season as the state’s undisputed top softball team, with the Lady Seahawks’ 37th consecutive win producing the program’s second straight Division II-A state title.
Silverdale outfielder Kennedy Stinson finished her prep career with 50 home runs, and just this season alone, she had 40 extra-base hits while posting a 1.000 fielding percentage in center for the second straight year. Meanwhile, fellow senior Ella Cunningham’s 368 strikeouts ranked sixth in the country, with the ace leading the way in the pitching circle for coach Jackie Freelend’s program, which was ranked as one of the top 25 in the country by MaxPreps.com.
As for the Lady Seahawks’ future, it’s worth nothing that of their 11 hits in the championship game, eight came from four players who were not upperclassmen this season: sophomores Avery Danz and Braylee Raby, freshman Bita Cox and eighth grader Eliana Phillips.
Meanwhile, Baylor (28-6-1) remained untouchable in Division II-AA as Kelli Smith’s program
extended its TSSAA record to
nine straight state titles with a 4-0 win over Chattanooga Christian School. Riley Oleksik tied the Lady Red Raiders’ singleseason record of 19 home runs, and fellow senior Holly Merritt homered in her final at-bat and completed the game-ending double play at second base. Yet another senior was sensational in the circle, with Avery Shamblin spinning 12 1/3 scoreless innings with 27 strikeouts during the tournament, while freshman Chloe Cunningham backed her in the field with incredible defense.
Pirates punch back
The week was ultimately shorter than hoped for in the case of all five qualifying teams from the Chattanooga area, with Baylor (DII-AA), Boyd Buchanan (DII-A), Bradley Central (Class 4A) and Signal Mountain (Class 3A) going a combined 1-8 and heading home after just two days at state.
However, South Pittsburg — the area’s only team to make it to Thursday — was one of the final four teams in Class 1A. That was largely due to strong pitching from Luke Rector and Zach Tierney, with each throwing a complete game while combining for 16 strikeouts and just one earned run allowed in the Pirates’ wins over Union City and Oakdale. Rector also went 4-for-11 with four RBIs in Murfreesboro.
South Pittsburg bounced back from losing its tourney opener to Oakdale with those back-to-back victories but was then eliminated by Eagleville, which on Friday won its third consecutive state title, having outscored its competition in Murfreesboro 54-4.
Signal Mountain senior Ben Timblin, whose 13 homers this season were tops in Tennessee, had four hits at state and allowed just one earned run while pitching five innings against Greeneville. Barrett Anderson also homered and drove in four runs in the Eagles’ finale.
And better than ever?
Four teams from Chattanooga — Arts & Sciences in Class A, Boyd Buchanan and Notre Dame in DII-A and McCallie in DII-AA — advanced to the title round, the most state finalists in area history and tied for the city’s best average ever (there were only three classifications in 2000, when Baylor, McCallie and Soddy Daisy played for titles). The title wins by Boyd Buchanan and McCallie made this the first time Chattanooga had multiple champions in the same year.
Also, Class AAA’s Howard earned the first state tournament win in program history as forward Jaime Roman scored the lone goal in the Hustlin’ Tigers quarterfinal victory against Science Hill, while fellow junior Gudmaro Roblero had six saves for the shutout in goal as the opposition totaled 15 shots.
After two consecutive heartbreaking losses in the state finals over the previous two seasons, Boyd Buchanan experienced the ultimate thrill as Fiston Mungisha and Andrew Pollard each contributed to two scores for the program’s first state title since 2010. Buccaneers keeper Nathan Randolph finished the season with 12 clean sheets (including five straight) and made eight saves at the Spring Fling.
McCallie went 15-0-1 to became the 16th TSSAA boys’ soccer team since 1987 to finish the season without a loss. During the regular season, the Blue Tornado posted one-goal victories over both Bearden and Ravenwood, which met in the Class AAA final. DII-AA tournament MVP Brandon Mathurin scored nine goals on 25 shots this year for the Blue Tornado.
Whole lot of hardware
Marlee Burkley was only a sophomore this year, but she produced arguably the best Spring Fling performance ever by a member of the prestigious Signal Mountain girls’ track and field program, which won its eighth state title this year. Burkley’s three state title included the Lady Eagles’ first ever in the pentathlon and high jump, and she also took the top spot in the 100-meter hurdles while finishing as the runner-up in the 300 hurdles. The only other Lady Eagle to win three state titles in one season was Kara Wilson in 2022.
McCallie made Rodney Stoker’s first season as head coach special. Blue Tornado seniors Caughran Fowler, Kendrick Reynolds and Parker Robison all won a pair of state titles and helped the Blue Tornado add a second team title three years after winning the program’s first.
Fiona Eastman (Arts & Sciences) and Logan Hargis (South Pittsburg) each won a pair of state titles, while Mason Bates (Boyd Buchanan), Lesley Burton (Boyd Buchanan), Eisa Eilertson (Sale Creek) and Kennedi Wimbush (CSLA) all became first-time champions for their programs.
Chattanooga Christian School’s Zachary Youngblood clocked a time of 4 minutes, 6.80 seconds in the 1600-meter run, just behind Knoxville Webb’s Colin Eckerman, whose 4:04.55 set a DII-AA meet record.
Despite battling injuries throughout the season, Brainerd superstar Danielle Dunning won her third 100-meter title in as many seasons as she beat the rest of the Class A field by half a second.
The area had 33 individual championships on top of the team titles won by McCallie and the Signal Mountain girls.
Supreme on the court
While Friday was a day for Arts & Sciences senior Ethan Porterfield and Baylor senior Helen Guerry to exorcise their tennis demons — he won a singles title and she was part of a doubles championship after each had multiple runner-up finishes in both team and singles/ doubles competition — McCallie was able to end a streak of sorts as well.
While the Blue Tornado have become the most dominant program in the state, with five consecutive DII-AA team titles, they hadn’t won a state championship in singles since Andrew Rogers did so in 2000. That streak was guaranteed to end Friday as teammates Gabe Getz and Juozas Cioladis squared off in the final, and Cioladis prevailed in three sets.
Sean Clark and Henry Imorde won the DII-AA doubles crown, helping McCallie sweep the team, singles and doubles titles for the first time since 1977.
Signal Mountain freshman Ananya Panicker won her first state title, while Baylor’s Sloane Proffitt teamed up with Guerry to win the DII-AA girls’ doubles championship.