By Steve Williams

Keegan Smith's strategy at last week's TSSAA State Track and Field Championships resulted in two victories.

The Knoxville Catholic High sophomore distance runner just wanted to win and began his 'kick' at the right times in the Division II Class AA 1600 and 3200-meter races at Dean A. Hayes Stadium on the MTSU campus in Murfreesboro.

Smith won the 1600 with a time of 4:17.18, just a little under two-tenths of a second ahead of Luke Thompson, a Brentwood Academy junior. Keegan overtook Thompson with a 56.625 split on the last lap, while Thompson finished with a 56.900 split.

In the 3200, Keegan prevailed with a time of 9:12.35, again edging Thompson, who was clocked in 9:13.56.

Michael Conley placed third in the long jump for Webb School, with a mark of 22 feet, 6¼ inches in the event.

Christian Brothers took home the first place trophy after piling up 128 points. Catholic came in 10th with its 26 points.

CAK takes third place in II-A: Led by sophomore Silas Fulford's pole vault title, Christian Academy of Knoxville placed third in the Division II Class A team rankings with 56 points.

Top point-getters for the Warriors also included junior Austin Delp, who took third place in the shot put with a toss of 48 feet, 10 inches.

CAK also got a third place finish on the track from Joshua Cross, who posted a time of 4:30.88 in the 1600 run.

Franklin Road Academy captured the team title with 118.50 points.

Farragut finishes third in Class AAA: KIL champion Farragut, powered by its strength in the distance and field events, scored 58 points to take third place in the Division I Class AAA team scoring.

Brentwood (83 points) and Memphis Central (76) finished first and second.

Sophomore Bryce Thompson got Coach Vic Wharton's Admirals off to a strong start in the field events by taking first place in the shot put with a heave of 57 feet, 11¾ inches. Senior teammate Tyson Jackson added a second place showing in the discus event with a throw of 156-04.

Farragut senior Trevor Coggin ran a 4:16.93 to take second in the 1600 run and junior teammate Matteo Tonnos was runner-up in the 3200 at 9:15.70.

The Admirals' 4×800 relay also earned silver with a time of 7:54.43.

Hardin Valley sophomore McKale Hayes covered the 300 hurdles in 39.26 seconds to take third place.

Burse is second in Class AA shot put: Austin-East senior Camden Burse took second place in the Division I Class AA shot put event with a toss of 50 feet and ¼ inch.

Two Knox County relay teams placed third, with Fulton's 4×100 combo posting a time of 43.86 and South-Doyle's 4×800 turning in at 8:16.64.

Page High took top team honors with 73 points. A-E placed 13th with 23 points.

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