SPRING FLING: TCA’s Williams part of 3 region records

By Brandon Shields

Managing editor

Trinity Christian Academy will have a number of athletes competing in the state track and field championship meet next week in Murfreesboro that’s part of Spring Fling.

Three events that stood out for the Lions coming out of their regional meet last week are winning teams in the 4X200 and 4X400 relay teams consisting of Owen Atwood, Brayden Waller, Zane Atwood and Kaleb Williams.

Not only did the four Lions win the event, but they set region records with their times.

A third region record was set by a TCA athlete last week when Kaleb Williams got his 400-meter time less than 50 seconds.

“It was really awesome to come away from that being a part of three new records,” Williams said during an interview on Wednesday. “I think that shows the work we’ve put in technically and just trying to get faster, and it looks like it’s paying off.”

Williams qualified for state last year in the 400-meter and finished fourth. Two of the three that finished ahead of him last year have graduated. The third is back at Northpoint Christian, but Williams beat him last week in the regional. Both qualified for state this year.

“We were close in times last year and this year, and I just finally got him during the region meet,” Williams said.

The 400-meter is one lap around the track, and Williams said that’s just long enough for the Lion coaches to talk to him about his technique and timing in pushing himself to run as fast as possible at certain times in the race.

“Last year, we started talking about not trying to push myself to be as fast as possible for the whole race, because by the time I got to the finish line, I was running out of gas,” Williams said. “But we worked on pushing myself at the start in the first stretch, pulling back in that first turn and then pushing again down the second stretch through the turn into the finish.

“It was probably about this time last year when I saw the benefit of that.”

With the relay team, Williams said the teammates have streamlined their handoffs and their running techniques. He said there’s still something they can do to make their time even shorter at Spring Fling.

“As good as we ran, our handoffs could’ve been better,” Williams said. “That’s fixable, and I think we will fix that and hopefully run quicker times.”

Here’s a look at all state championship qualifiers from Madison County in the state track and field championships and tennis championships:

TRACK & FIELD

Division I-A

Boys

Damon Hernandez, Madison, pole vault

Madison 4X800 relay team

Chase Vowell, Madison, decathlon

Girls

Ximena Acosta, Madison, 800-meter run

Lola Greenway, Madison, 200-meter dash, 400-meter dash

Kyla Hawkins, Madison, pole vault

Leighton Kayal, Madison, pole vault

Madison 4X200 relay team

Madison 4X400 relay team

Madison 4X800 relay team

Ebigail Pela, Madison, 100-meter hurdles, pentathlon

Florence Pela, Madison 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash

Division I-AA Boys

Bryan Brooks, North Side, 300-meter hurdles

Division II-A

Boys

Hayes Carney, USJ, 400-meter dash

Miles Johnson, USJ, 3,200-meter run

Justin Parker, USJ, long jump, triple jump, high jump

Trinity Christian 4X200 relay team

Trinity Christian 4X400 relay team

Trinity Christian 4X100 relay team

Kaleb Williams, TCA, 400-meter dash

Girls

Ellen Driver, USJ, triple jump

Kenley Hines, USJ, 100-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles

Addyson Kirkland, USJ, 1,600-meter run

TCA 4X200 relay team

Lilly Teague, USJ, 800-meter run

USJ 4X200 relay team

USJ 4X400 relay team

USJ 4X800 relay team

Olivia Welch, USJ, long jump, 100-meter hurdles, high jump

TENNIS

Team

USJ boys

USJ girls

Singles

Boys

Jack Veazey, Jackson Christian

Girls

Brilee Davis, USJ

Doubles

Boys

Preston Miller/Jack Wilkerson, USJ

Tristan Scallion/Andrew Lawrence, USJ

Girls

Hayden Craig/Madeline Craig, USJ