Mavericks, Dragons deliver at Halls meet
In an early-season track meet in North Knox County, both Anderson County teams posted strong performances.
For the Lady Mavericks, Mattie Lively recorded a top-five finish in the shot put. She had a throw of 24 feet, 11 inches to place fifth at the Tom Dever Invitational at Halls High School Thursday night.
For the Anderson County boys, three distance specialists finished in the top 10 in the 800-meter run.
John Cutler led the way with a second-place finish, crossing the line in 2 minutes, 6.51 seconds.
Cameron Hardy was eighth with a time of 2:11.25, while Avian Laster finished ninth in 2:18.28.
That trio also posted strong finishes in the 1,600-meter run, which was won by Cutler in 4:34.67. Hardy placed third in 4:52.25, while Laster came in sixth with a time of 5:01.15.
Luke Dark, a senior, captured the shot put with a winning mark of 59 feet, 4 inches. Charles Humphrey finished sixth with a throw of 36-6.
Joseph Hall placed second in the long jump with a leap of 21-7. He also finished sixth in the 400-meter dash in 54.90 seconds. Brayden Sharpe was ninth in the long jump with a mark of 18-6 1/2.
In the 100-meter dash, Debrein Owens finished 10th with a time of 11.60 seconds.
Anderson County Coach Harrison Calhoun said he was pleased with the effort from both teams.
“We had a lot of good marks from a lot of newbies,” Calhoun said. “We had a lot of new kids out there at Halls on Thursday.
“We were shocked and overwhelmed in a good way with the number of kids that we had.
“We’re going to find a lot of different places for those kids to compete. We have a lot of kids out, but that’s a nice problem to have.”
• Clinton’s Dragons and Lady Dragons were also in action at Halls Thursday night.
Maliyah Drake had a big night for the Lady Dragons. She finished third in the long jump with a mark of 13-1 1/2. Drake was also fifth in the 100-meter dash in 13.36 seconds and ninth in the 200-meter dash in 28.65.
In the 100-meter hurdles, Clinton had a pair of top-five finishers as Isabella Morabito placed third with a time of 20.06 seconds and Regan Keller finished fifth in 20.41.
Distance runner Lily West placed eighth in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 6:12.42.
Ryin Jones finished eighth in the 100-meter dash in 11.52 seconds and was 10th in the 200-meter dash in 24.17. Konner Baylis placed fourth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 54.10.
Clinton Coach Tim Kumes also said he was pleased with his team’s early showing.
“We had some good marks from a lot of our young kids,” Kumes said.
“This meet and our preseason meets were a chance to knock some of the rust off.
