Lincoln track and field athletes state bound
Published 12:14 pm Thursday, May 17, 2018
Photos by Nancy Leedy MCKENZIE SETTLES, a LCHS freshman, rounds the second turn of the first leg of the 4x800 relay at the Class 2A, Region 5 Championships. Settles, Lucy Singleton, Shayley Reed and Ava Morgan won the region title.
9 Lady Pats, 4 Pats to compete in elite meet
HARRODSBURG — Friday proved to be a banner day for the Lincoln County High School girls track and field team.
The Lady Patriots will be well represented at this weekend’s 2018 KHSAA State Track and Field Championships at the Shively Track and Field Complex at the University of Kentucky, with four relay teams and two individuals making the state-qualifying cut at Friday’s Class 2A, Region 5 Championships.
“I am so very proud of this track team this year!” Lincoln girls coach Missy Slone exclaimed. “We have nine girls that will be competing Friday at the state meet.”
The Lincoln girls qualified to compete in all the relays at state – 4×800, 4×400, 4×200 and 4×100 teams – and two individual events.
The Lincoln boys team will also have some runners on the track Friday, with the Patriots’ 4×200 relay team slated to run. This is the first state appearance for the Patriots since 2015.
The Lady Patriots’ 4×800 relay team won the region title at Alvis Johnson Field at Harrodsburg in a time of 10:03.22 as freshmen McKenzie Settles, Shayley Reed and Singleton and eighth-grader Ava Morgan ran their best race of the season. The team, which finished three seconds ahead of runner-up Boyle County and 14 seconds ahead of the third-place running team from Mercer County, shaved an impressive 30 seconds off its previous best time to earn the victory and an automatic state berth. The first- and second-place teams/individuals at region qualify automatically for state.
“I could not be prouder of the way that the 4×800 meter relay performed on Friday night,” Slone said. “They came out ready to run and beat their seed time by 30 seconds. I have coached three of the four girls that make up this relay in middle school and I have known for a couple years that they would do big things in their high school career. This region championship isn’t the end of the road for them. This is a young relay team that is made up of three freshmen and one eighth-grader so these girls will be around for a while and I look forward to seeing them run over the next few years.”
The Lady Patriots’ 4×800 team has the third best time in Class 2A heading into the state meet, with only Elizabethtown and Highlands turning in a faster time this season. E-town and Highlands have both posted sub-10-minute times.
Only the top two finishers in region competition earn automatic state berths, but Lincoln’s athletes are proof that it pays to put your best effort forward whenever in competition, with the top 10 best times, heights or distances state wide behind the automatic qualifiers earning an at-large state berth. That is why Lincoln has not one, but five relay teams and two individuals on tap to compete Friday in the Class 2A finals. The girls 4×800 team was the only Lincoln team to finish first or second at region.
The Patriots 4×200 team of senior Brady Patterson, juniors Dalyn Pope and Darius Napier and freshman Gavin Skipper is the first Lincoln boys relay team to reach state since 2012.
“We’ve battled hamstring, knee, shin splints and back injuries,” Lincoln boys coach Jose Pope said. “They’ve put in a lot of work over the past few weeks. We even practiced on Sunday the week of region, and they got pushed beyond their limits. They stepped up to the challenge because they felt like they had something to prove. They’ve been thrown into different races to prepare for region. Class 2A, Region 5 is probably the toughest region in the whole state. So to make it to state says a whole lot about these young men.”
To show just how tough Region 5 is, the top five teams in the 4×200 made it to state. Boyle and Bell Counties claimed the automatic berths with times of 1:29.76 and 1:34.04, respectively, East Jessamine moved on with a time of 1:34.55, Knox Central advanced with a time of 1:36.80 and Lincoln placed fifth with a state-qualifying time of 1:36.81.
The Lady Patriot 4×800 relay team was not the only girls team topping its seed time at region. The 4×200 team of seniors Courtney Snow and Tate Newcomb, Singleton and eighth-grader Maddy Slone were timed at 1:49.06 to place third at region. Boyle County won in 1:45.51 and Mercer was runner-up in 1:49.04. And the 4×100 team of sophomore Hailee Barnes, Snow, Newcomb and Slone placed fifth in a time of 53.40 seconds yet still qualified for state because of fast times. East Jessamine won in 50.52 seconds, Boyle was second in 51.57, Corbin ran third in 52.64 and Mercer was fourth in 52.67.
The individuals earning state berths were Singleton and junior Alexa Wesley. Singleton, who won the 800 regional title last year, finished third overall Friday, qualifying in a time of 2:23.21. Victoria Dotson of Rockcastle County won the 800 in 2:20.68 and Haley Blevins of Mercer County was second in 2:21.85. Wesley finished fifth in the high jump field event at region, but her jump of 4-06.00 was good enough to get her to state. Jai Landversicht of East Jessamine cleared 5-04.00 to win the event and teammate Taliyah Colone was second at 5-02.00. Amber Brown of Knox Central finished third with a jump of 5-02.00 and Becca Tarter of Boyle cleared 4-10.00 to place fourth.
“Our 4×200 and 4×100 also broke their seed times at region on Friday. They fell short of the top 2 automatic entries but got in on the top 10 times,” said Slone. “Alexa also qualified in the top 10 heights and will compete at state. Lucy fell short of the top 2 in the 800 but made it in on the top 10 times as well. She was frustrated that she didn’t make top 2 in the region but I know that she will compete well on Friday at state.”
Lincoln has a total of 20 athletes ready to head to the state meet with several alternate athletes also making the trip. The alternates are Kelley Bastin, JoRon Beasley, David Brock, Constance Johnson, Alexis Slone and Austin Wethington.
“I can’t explain what it means to me to have this many kids go to state my first year of coaching at the high school level and to have a relay be region champs,” Slone said. “I have a talented group of girls that work hard everyday and that hard work has paid off.”
Class 2A Region 5 Championships
at Alvis Johnson Field
LINCOLN RESULTS
GIRLS
Teams: 1) Boyle Co. 164; 2) Mercer Co. 125; 3) Rockcastle Co. 96; 4) East Jessamine 59; 5) Casey Co. 36; 6) Lincoln Co. 31; 7) Knox Central 21; 7) Corbin 21; 9) Russell Co. 4; 10) Clay Co. 1.
Events
4×800 relay: 1) Lincoln Co. 10:03.22 (Lucy Singleton, Shayley Reed, McKenzie Settles, Ava Morgan).
100: 4) Maddy Slone 13.63 4; 8) Tate Newcomb 14.08.
4×200 relay: 3) Lincoln Co. 1:49.06 (Courtney Snow, Singleton, Maddy Slone, Tate Newcomb).
1600: 8) Alexis Slone 6:07.92.
4×100 relay: 5) Lincoln Co. 53.40 (Snow, M. Slone, Hailee Barnes, Newcomb).
400: 7) McKenzie Settles 1:03.12; 12) Meredith Dennis 1:09.49.
300 hurdles: 13) Constance Johnson 56.65.
800: 3) Lucy Singleton 2:23.31; 9) Settles 2:34.5.
200: 10) Courtney Snow 27.87; 12) Newcomb 28.25.
3200: 9) A. Slone 13:35.02; 12) Jasmine Steele 15:32.99.
4×400 relay: 6) Lincoln Co. 4:23.64 (Singleton, Dennis, Reed, Settles).
Shot put: 8) Abigail Carter 27-09.50; 21) Keri Kidd 18-06.50.
Discus: 10) Carter 76-00; 13) Suzan Johnson 64-04.
Long jump: 8) Alexa Wesley 14-00.75; 9) Alli House 13-10.75.
Triple jump: — Emma Kaiser ND.
High jump: 5) Wesley 4-06.00.
BOYS
Teams: 1) Boyle Co. 169; 2) East Jessamine 113; 3) Mercer Co. 81; 4) Bell Co. 52; 5) Casey Co. 33; 6) Knox Central 26; 6) McCreary Central 26; 8) Rockcastle Co. 20; 9) Corbin 11; 10) Clay Co. 10; 10) Lincoln Co. 10; 12) Wayne Co. 2; 12) Russell Co. 2.
Events
4×800 relay: 8) Lincoln Co. 9:34.72 (Austin Wethington, Gabe Singleton, Jerek Pope, Jacob Goetz).
100: 3) Darius Napier 11.56; 15) Brady Patterson 12.45.
4×200 relay: 5) Lincoln Co. 1:36.81 (Dalyn Pope, Gavin Skipper, Brady Patterson, Darius Napier).
1600: 15) Sam Singleton 5:19.94; 20) Carter Muse 5:48.33.
4×100 relay: 6) Lincoln Co. 46.96 (Patterson, D. Pope, Skipper, Napier).
400: 6) Dalyn Pope 55.81; 14) Jacob Goetz 57.91.
300 hurdles: 11) Malcolm Wright 47.49; 18) Daniel Pence 1:06.95.
800: 19) Goetz 2:24.32; 23) Austin Wethington 2:33.95.
200: 8) Napier 23.66; 15) Wethington 25.34.
3200: 12) S. Singleton 11:36.06; 19) Muse 12:48.98.
4×400 relay: 10) Lincoln Co. 3:54.72 (Goetz, Wethington, Skipper, Malcolm Wright).
Shot put: 17) Bret Edgington 31-03.50.
Discus: 20) Brandon Rowe 72-11; 21) Gabe Singleton 70-10.
Long jump: 13) D. Pope 17-00.00; 17) David Brock 15-01.00.
Triple jump: 12) Brock 35-06.25.
