Building a foundation at Clinton High School
The track program at Clinton High School is under new leadership.
“There’s a lot of work to do,” said Coach Al Rodd. “We knew that going in. They just had a few meets last year, but they will get better.”
Rodd and Jackie Champion are now leading the programs.
Rodd returned to coaching a year and a half after he left Anderson County High School, where he spent about 30 years total as track coach in a couple of stints. At Clinton, one of his immediate goals is to start building a foundation for the program. while helping to push the current squad to its full potential.
“We put up a record board,” Rodd said. “We went back to the past. They had a record board up on the old fieldhouse, but it came up missing. So we did some research and I kind of enjoy that, the history. We wanted to get that up so the kids could look at it and say, ‘I want to try to beat that.’ We did that at Anderson County and that seemed to work out pretty well.”
He said Clinton will have three home meets this year — two high school and one middle school. The Clinton Middle School meet will be April 5.
“It’s been a while since Clinton Middle School has had a team,” Rodd said.
He said Dorian Ewing leads the CMS track team and she has about 18-20 kids on for the team this year and that bodes well for the future of the high school program.
Clinton, like Anderson County, dropped down to AA this season.
“That’s going to help,” Rodd said. “There’s some good teams in AA, but it’s going to help possibly get some kids to state.”
He also said the CHS track will be resurfaced in May, and it will have a new shot put and long jump area along with a new discus cage.
“The county has really helped us out,” Rodd said.
The high school team currently has 20 members between the Dragons and Lady Dragons. Rodd said it is possible some more people will join the team, perhaps after the basketball season ends for the Dragons.
Clinton does return some experience.
The Lady Dragons have three seniors — Alexis England, Abigail Sanders and Addy Shelton. They also have four juniors — Juliet Avila, Abby Bible, Sifa Gatho, and Ryleign Moquin.
The Dragons also have three seniors, William Jackson, Devin Monroe and Seth Shrout, and one junior, Ethan Ortiz.
Among the underclassmen are sophomores Riley Owens and Summer Wilson for the Lady Dragons, and Sam Duggins and Buford Watson for the Dragons.
Freshmen for the Lady Dragons include Sarah Conatser, Candance Cates, Sadie Haney and Alison Holifield. Noah Ortiz is the only freshman for the Dragons.
Among the other big meets on the schedule are the Hardin Valley Invitational and the sectionals, which will be held at Tom Black Track at the University of Tennessee on May 14.
