FHS track posts strong result in opener
Her seventh-place finish in the girls 100-meter dash produced a personal-best time of 13.17 seconds, one of several highlights for the Admirals during their season-opening meet at the Tennova Farragut East Tennessee jamboree.
In a two-hour span, the Ads reeled off 14 personal records, five first-place finishes and 24 top-five results — double the amount of first-place finishes from Bearden (12) and almost triple the amount for Knox Catholic (10) and Webb School of Knoxville (9).
The day served as a fitting start for new head coach Charles Bell, who is tasked with leading an FHS team that won its latest state title less than a year ago.
“Very blessed to take over a program that’s already so established,” Bell told the farragutpress Saturday. “This is a program that develops state champions. But we also want to develop them as well-rounded athletes too. There’s a standard and expectation here at Farragut.”
That certainly appeared the case last weekend, as five different athletes reached those first place results for FHS. Harper McAvoy took first in girls high jump at four feet, nine inches, and Peyton Edmunds and Chase McAvoy took first in girls and boys pole vault events, respectively. Edmonds vaulted nine feet exactly, while McAvoy totaled precisely 11 feet on his attempt.
Sam Shagan finished first in the boys 800-meter run at 2:01.44, and Lucas Spadafora took first in the boys 400-meter dash at a personal best of 50.52 seconds.
Aside from the first-place results, top-five finishes for FHS included Ava Barczak, who took second in the girls 400-meter event at 60.38 seconds, and Chase McAvoy and Nathan Jacobs in the boys 400-meter run at third and fourth place, respectively. They both hit personal bests, as did Christie George at third place in the girls 100-meter event. Corom Hlebasko took fourth in the boys 800-meter run, and Shagan took second in the boys event at a personal-best 4:23.49.
Ryleigh Howe claimed second in the girls 300-meter hurdles, and Fisher Smith finished fourth overall in the boys edition at a personal record 45.22 seconds.
Jakob Ovales finished second in boys shot put at 45 feet, one inch, and he finished fourth in the boys discus at 121 feet, six inches. Rigsby Williams finished fourth for FHS in girls shot put at 23 feet, six inches, while Kambree Fontenot and Williams took fourth and fifth in girls discus at 82 feet, six inches and 82 feet, three inches, respectively.
McAvoy finished second overall for the boys side with Eaker in fifth.
Evan Edmunds took third in boys pole vault with teammate Evan Gofreed in fourth, while Farragut’s Ada Becker took second in girls long jump. Tyler Martin finished fourth overall in boys long jump.
In other area finishes, Catholic also saw five first-place athletes on Saturday. Payton Sipos finished at the top in 100-meter hurdles 14.94 and took first in 300-meter hurdles as well at 46.88 seconds. Charlotte Fowler took first in long jump at 16 feet, 5.5 inches, and Chandler Thompson claimed first in 300-meter hurdles at 40.87 seconds with George Mancini finishing first in high jump at 6 feet, four inches.
Webb saw four first-place results on Saturday: Lacy Young at 12.48 seconds in the girls 100-meter dash; Young again in the girls 200-meter dash at 25.90 seconds; Calysta Garmer at 2:18.86 in the girls 800-meter run and Garmer once more in the girls 1600-meter event at 4:56.17.
Bearden’s Mouhamed Seck was the Bulldogs’ sole first-place finisher, notching first in boys triple jump at 45 feet, 4.5 inches.
CAK’s Owen Fulford and Concord Christian’s Kohbe Ward finished off the area first-place results. Fulford first in the 110-meter hurdles at 14.98 seconds, while Ward took first in the boys 200-meter dash at 22.89 seconds.
