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"Wow, that
went about as well as it could have," Coach Finley. "In our
first four years of track, we’ve had two kids to earn state
track medals: Kathy and Josh. In three hours time yesterday
we had ten boys combine for thirteen medals." It was
basically the best case scenario for us. "We had an
opportunity for 13 medals in the finals for the guys and
they delivered when it mattered and went a perfect 13/13 ,"
according to Coach Finley. The most exciting thing for
the Eagles, was their relay teams. In the past, Independence
has never had a girls or guys relay finish in the top ten in
the state, and then having three different relays all finish
as state medalists in one night, surpassing the teams'
preseason goals.
The 4x800 relay was the upstart of the night, having come in
seeded 11th but getting a gutsy performance from breakout
freshman Kris Howard to move us into contention and then
Helton anchoring us into 6th and onto the medal stand in
school record time. It was Josh’s 5th and final state track
medal. The 4x200 slipped just a bit to 8th Friday but still
gained all-state honors and medals, and the much anticipated
4x400 battled neck and neck with the top two teams in the
state and ultimately finished in our predicted place, 3rd in
the state. The 13th medal went to the “silent assassin”,
Ryan Pett who speaks softly but gets big results. He has
come from a 5:24 mile best as a freshman to a 4:28 mile and
an all-state medal winning performance which is about as far
as you can progress over that distance in high school. A
great finish to his time at Independence, and the fourth
straight year that somebody from Independence has medaled in
the mile at state.
According to Coach Finley "It was an excellent way to finish
our season, we are very proud of them for performing under
pressure and getting our name out there in some new circles.
Thirteen medals in track events alone is a haul for any team
in any classification, we were psyched."
TSSAA STATE MEDALISTS:
Boys 4x800, 6th in state: Johnathan Norman to Travis Carter
to Kris Howard to Josh Helton
Boys 4x200, 8th in state: Jay Ryan to Brandon Boatman to
Kaleb Markey to RJ Ellison
Boys 4x400, 3rd in state: Jay Ryan to Carter Johnson to RJ
Ellison to Johnathan Norman
Boys 1600, 8th in state: Ryan Pett
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