Vols set for good showing at state meet
As Starkville Academy track and field head coach Sam Wright watches his charges prepare for this week's Class 5A State Championship meet, he can't help but be proud for the advancement made his team this season – and intrigued by the unlimited hope being shown for seasons to come.
The Volunteers will send 11 athletes to Jackson to compete in nine events in hopes of garnishing a state crown, or at least continue to shows signs of improvement over last season.
“We want to finish higher than 2021 when we were sixth with 68 points, and we want to represent Starkville Academy well,” Wright said.
The Starkville Academy boys' team is coming off a solid showing at last week's North Half State Championship meet where they placed third overall.
The Lady Vols will send two to this week's state meet – freshmen Abby Winston, who will compete in the long Jump at noon today, and Rylee Fisher, who will participate in the high jump today at 2 p.m.
Despite having just Winston and Fisher in the girls' meet, Wright said he sees improvement by the Starkville Academy girls – a trend he sees continuing into 2023 and beyond.
“The girls are so hungry to get better,” Wright said. “They come to work, put in the effort to get better and it's starting to show.”
The only boys' event with a Volunteer represented slated for today will feature senior Brady Johnson in the long jump beginning at 4 p.m.
Saturday's busy slate will get started with junior Charlie Nicholas in the 300-meter hurdles at 9:54 a.m., and junior Alex Friedhaber and Nicholas in the 110-meter hurdles beginning at 1:03 p.m.. Friedhaber is coming off an individual victory in the boys' 300-meter hurdles at the North Half State meet.
The relays get started at 11:27 a.m. Saturday with senior Dylan Miller, freshman Bentley Ferguson, senior Benjamin Wiley and sophomore Jackson Ham in the 4x800-meter relay.
That will be followed by 4x100-meter relay. The Vols' participants will be junior Wyatt Buice, Johnson, Nicholas and sophomore Ben
Lyle.
Wiley will compete in the boys' 800-meter dash, and the meet will be completed with the 4x400-meter relay. Starkville Academy will be represented in the final relay by Miller, Friedhaber, Wiley and Nicholas.
The field events will be held at Jackson Academy today and Saturday with the running events taking place at Jackson Prep on Saturday.
Wright said how the Vols finish the meet will tell about where the program stands against schools from the south.
“I'm really excited to see what we can do and see if we can run with those boys from the south,” Wright said.
Wright added that his team needs to stay hungry and focused. With a little hard work added to that, there could be surprises.
“If the guys can stay hungry and keep the same focus as they had at North Half State, we'll do well,” Wright said. “The guys have given me everything they had this season. We've got a young team, both boys and girls. I think we're going to shock some folks at how well we're going to run.”