Bishop, Moody qualify for state championship
The TSSAA Section 1 AAA Championship was held at Hardin Valley Academy on Saturday, May 13 and two Anderson County Lady Mavs —Brittany Bishop and Maddy Moody — qualified for the state championship.
A total of 31 schools representing the AAA competition in eastern Tennessee competed for the opportunity to participate in the TSSAA State Championship scheduled for the week of May 22-26 in Murfreesboro. The top four finishers in each event automatically qualified for the State Championship Meet.
The Lady Mavs team finished sixth overall with a total of 36 points and with a pair of Lady Mav sophomores guaranteeing that Anderson County High School will be represented at the State Championship.
Brittany Bishop qualified for the state meet in two events, winning the pole vault competition with a vault of 11’6” and then running into a strong head wind winning the 100 meter hurdles in a time of 15.75 seconds. Brittany currently has the number two (2) mark in the state AAA pole vault completion at 12’.
Maddy Moody finished third in the 1600 meter run in a time of 5:24.85 to punch her ticket to Murfreesboro. Moddy also contributed to the Lady Mav team total with a seventh place finish in the 400 meter dash with a time 0f 62.55.
Also scoring for the Lady Mavs were seniors Brandi Duff in the pole vault with a sixth place mark of 8’6” and Sydney McCreary with a seventh place finish in the 100 meter hurdles in a time of 17.01 seconds.
Brittany added points from her sixth place finish in the Section 1 AAA Pentathlon, which was held at Morristown West on April 24. She is currently ranked second in the state in pole vault and is unbeaten in the event this year.
On the boys side the Mavs failed to qualify anyone for the state championship as the team finished 19th overall.
Scoring for the Mavs was junior Parker Fulton leaping 20’7.75” for an eighth place finish in the long jump and the 4x400 meter relay team of sophomores Grant Hayes, Harrison Ogburn and seniors Jordan Braden and Jonathon Hughes finished eighth in breaking the Anderson County School Record with a time of 3:37.27. The previous record of 3:37.44 had been held by the team of Jason Utley, Dylan Palmer, Nick Teague and Danial Forbes since 2007.
Grant Hayes also added team points for his sixth place finish in the Decathlon which was held at Morristown West on April 24-25.
Should Bishop and/or Moody win a state championship, it will be the first for the Lady Mavs since Alex Sain won the pentathlon and triple jump in 2008.
Bishop will participate in the pole vault at 2 p.m. on Wednesday and in the 110 meter hurdles on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
Moody will try her luck in the 1600 meter run on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.