Local track athletes qualify for state championships
a time of 41.60 in the 300 hurdles. Meanwhile, Ridgeland senior A’zavier Blackwell clocked in at 10.87 in the 100 to punch a ticket to state.
For the girls, Madelyn Thompson and Gracie Murray will both represent Heritage in two different events in Albany.
Thompson, a senior, was seventh in the long jump (171) and also qualified in the 100 hurdles (15.37). Murray, a freshman, qualified for Albany in the 100 hurdles (16.48) and the 300 hurdles (48.92). Junior Zauren Burton earned fourth place in the high jump and Ridgeland freshman Annabel Hill was sixth in the same event. Both topped out at 4-10 with Burton getting the higher finish on tiebreakers. Heritage sophomore Allison Craft also qualified for the state meet with a seventh-place showing in the 3200 (13:21).
Three members of the Ringgold High track team and three members of the LFO High track team will represent their schools at the Class 3A state meet in Albany next weekend.
At Saturday’s state sectional meet in Atlanta, Ringgold’s Jared Dunn punched his ticket to state in three separate events. The senior tied for first place with Corey Moore (Towers) in the high jump as they both topped out at 5-8. Dunn also placed second in the 110 hurdles (15.29) and in the 300 hurdles (41.35).
On the girls’ side, senior Morgan Allen was second in the high jump (5-0), while senior Annabelle Duckett placed sixth in the 100 hurdles (16.65).
For the Warriors, senior Erik Martinez will compete at state after a sixth place finish in the 800 (2:03.43) and in the 1600 (4:43.72), while senior Chris Moore and sophomore Kyle Pursley qualified in the high jump. Both athletes topped out at 5-8, but due to the jump-off tiebreaker, Moore tied for fifth place and Pursley finished up eighth.
Gordon Lee did not compete this weekend as Class 1A does not hold state sectional meets. The top four in each event at the recent area meets automatically qualified for state in Albany this weekend.