In May 22-27 Issue
By Misty Matney
RCHS Track Coach
The middle school track and field team competed Saturday, May 17 at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Lexington for the KTCCCA State Championships.

The meet was not ranked in class and had over 1500 athletes competing. This was one of the biggest track and field meets that is held besides the Bluegrass Games in the summer.

For our team, the mere sight of the crowd and schools there was a bit overwhelming. The biggest meet they had been in just had 12 teams, so for my athletes it was a huge learning experience.

The athletes stepped in the competition with some being nationally ranked and ranked in the top ten of the middle school state performance listings.

Overall each athlete did really well. It was an all day event, which is hard to stay focused without getting tired.

Selena Padilla, a sixth grader, was entered in the high jump and the 100m. hurdles. Selena did well in both events despite missing a week of crucial practice for both of those events.

Selena cleared 4’0 in the high jump and ran consistent to her times of the season in the hurdle race. Selena needs to gain more strength, and once she does that she will be hard to beat in both events.

This was such great experience for her, and she is a natural at both events with her technique and form.

Tara Sayer, an eight grader, ran the 200 m. dash and was in both the 4X200 and the 4X100 relays. Tara did well in the open 200 running consistent to her time all season.

Tara looked strong in the 4X200 relay as well as in the 4X100 relay. Speed is something one has to work on, and for her never running before this year, she did very well. Like the majority of the girl’s team, she needs more strength and speed training.

Ally Harris was ranked in the top going into competition in the 400m dash and the 800m. run. Ally has such great determination and is a strong athlete to be her age.

 Ally placed 11th in the 400m. dash out of 67 runners and she placed 14th in the 800m. run out of 61 runners. Ally was also the anchor leg of the 4X200 relay. Ally is an exceptional athlete that will only continue to get better with more experience.

The 4X200 relay consisted of Heather Flatt, Makenzie Back, Tara Sayer, and Ally Harris. The team finished 29th out of 52 teams. The 4X100 relay consisted of MaKenzie Back, Tara Sayer, Shelby Holder and Heather Flatt.

These girls did really well considering that they were up against huge schools from all across Kentucky.

Most of the schools have great track facilities, which give those athletes an advantage over the ones that do not have such access.

Having great facilities doesn’t necessarily mean that there are better athletes, but it does offer an advantage.

On the boys side Trevor Robertson was unfortunately hampered by bad timing of sickness. Trevor placed well despite not feeling well.

He was ranked in the top of the state, and remains top ranked in the nation currently. He placed 15th in the 1600m. run, with not his best time of the season out of 61 runners. In the 3200. run he placed 13th out of 50 runners. Trevor did not have his best times, but he did very well considering he is just a sixth grader. Some of the runners he was up against looked like high school students.

Trevor is an astonishing distance runner that will need to gain some upper body strength as he matures.

Tayler Ragle did well in the 400m. dash despite a mix up on the results. He placed in the top half of the runners in that event.

Tayler looked strong in the 800m. run placing 18th out of 67 runners.

Tayler gave a great effort pouring everything he had into his races. Tayler is a huge attribute to the middle school team and the high school team.

Allen Kemp competed in the long jump.  Allen was not jumping his best, and was quiet overwhelmed by the amount of people in the event and the size of the other boys.

Allen has done an amazing job this season on the team, and contributed to the high school team as well.

Of all the athletes, Allen has some of the best running form seen in such a young athlete.

This meet was such a great learning experience for all the athletes that went.

It was also a great learning experience for me coaching track and field for the first year.

I had competed in events as large as that, but never coached athletes in an atmosphere as large.

I gained a lot of knowledge talking with other coaches, athletes, and school administration that were there to support their schools that were competing.

It is always great to see other individuals besides the athletes and parents at such an important event for middle school students.

I want to thank each of the parents that were there supporting their child and our team through such a long day.