April 29, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
On Saturday, April 17, the Warren County Track and Field Team ventured west to participate in the Tomahawk Chomp Team Championships at Riverdale High School in Murfreesboro. The team faced some challenging opponents, but continued their streak of setting PR’s and breaking school records.
Ella VanVranken and Cadee Griffith along with their Warren County teammates Katie Toney and Emma Randall crushed the long standing school record (11:50.22) in the 4×800 meter relay with a 10:31.26 pace. The school record breaking time was not enough to give them the victory as they finished third behind Riverdale and Oakland.
Aaron Gottlied set a PR in the 1600 meters and 800 meters. He finished 3rd in the 800 meters with a time of 2:10.33 and 6th in the 1600 meters with a pace of 5:00.46. Gottlied and the 4×800 meter relay team also had a 5th place finish with a time of 9:29.57.
Ally Beneke was victorious with her 5:04.00 high jump as she continues to hold on to her state ranking.
Athletes from Central Magnet, Columbia Central, Glencliff, Oakland, Riverdale, Rockvale, and Warren County competed in the meet.
On Thursday, April 22, the team traveled to Cumberland County. The dropping temperature did not stop the win streaks although they did take a toll on overall performances. Cadee Griffith had two first place finishes, one in the women’s 800 meter race with a time of 2:54.46 and another in the women’s 800 meter relay (11:31.06) with her teammates Katie Toney, Emma Randall, and Marissa Walker.
Griffith and Maleah Ruch raced the women’s 400 meter sprint where Griffith finished 4th (1:14.06) and Ruch finished 6th (1:20.17).
Ally Beneke continued her dominance with a 5-04.00 high jump, her closest competitor a foot shorter with a leap of 4-04.00. She also had a 1st place finish in the 4×200 meter relay (Sable Winfree, Kyra Perkins, and Savannah Winfree) with a time of 1:55.18.
Overall, York took first place in the meet with an overall total of 167.5 points, followed by Warren County with 107 points, CumberlandCounty (98.5), Livingston Academy (69), Clarkrange (50), Kingston High School (50), and White County (30).
The team travels to Cookeville High School on Tuesday, April 27th for the last regular season meet. The race to the State Championships begins with a subsectional meet on Friday, April 30th at Cumberland County High School. The top 4 individuals and relay teams in each event will advance to the TSSAA D1 Large School Section 2 Meet which will be held at Riverdale High School, Friday, May 7. The State Championships will be held on Wednesday, May 26th at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville.