Clinton relay rewrites mark at sectional meet
Clinton’s Maliyah Drake soars through the air during the long jump competition at last Thursday’s Section 1-AA championships in Maryville. Drake posted a leap of 13 feet, 10.25 inches, to finish eighth. She also helped the Lady Dragons’ 4x100-meter relay team break the school record with a time of 53.86 seconds. (photo:Tony Cox )
The Dragons and Lady Dragons had a successful spring.
Neither team, however, will have representation at the state championships which will be at the University of Tennessee’s Tom Black Track in Knoxville for the first time in three seasons.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have any state qualifiers this year, and that’s kind of a disappointment for the coaching staff after we’ve had people at the state meet the last two years,” Clinton Coach Tim Kumes said.
“But we had some great results on the day with some new [personal records], but nothing that qualified for state.
“We had another school record broken, and overall, it was a great year.”
The Lady Dragons’ 4x100-meter relay team of Saviah Stewart, Maliyah Drake, Ryleigh White and Isabella Morabito broke its own school record. The team finished fifth, posting a time of 53.86 seconds.
In the girls 3,200-meter run, freshman Lilain West came in 12th, crossing the finish line in a personal-best time of 13 minutes, 22.32 seconds.
In the boys 3,200, Baylor Cool, another freshman, finished 17th with a personal-record time of 11:00.28. Cooper Bostrom claimed 18th place in 11:02.17.
Clinton’s distance specialists all qualified for multiple events, but Kumes said he and his staff opted to compete in just one event.
“We wanted to show these kids that they could compete at this level,” Kumes said.
“We’re trending in the right direction, and we had a great year.”
