Coffee County Track and Field have had several very successful meets back to back. As the season has headed towards its zenith, the scale and importance of each meet has varied. But there is one consistency throughout it all: Coffee County Raids races!

On Thursday April 14th, 2021, Coffee County had a stellar performance during the inaugural Webb School Fast Feet Invitational. 

The Lady Raiders successfully took first out of nine schools, a total of 169 points, finishing nice and securely in front of Stewart’s Creek with 161.5 points and Webb School with 102 points.  Meanwhile, the Red Raider boys managed to capture third out of eleven teams, earning Coffee County 85 more points, finishing behind Stewarts Creek and McCallie School. 

There were a litany of successful times and placements for the Red Raider Track team. Both the  guys and girls teams had many finishes in the top five of their respective events.  

Some notable examples for the Ladies include the 4×800 (consisting of Madison Rooker, Elli Chumley, Kailee Rossman and Patricia Barrera) with a time of 11:02.37 and nabbing 1st Place. Madison Rooker with a time of 18.37 for the 100 meter hurdles. Bethany Lambert with a time of 2.44.95  for the 800 meter run, winning 5th place. And many others. 

Some notable scores for males include Garrett Masters in 2nd Place for the 3200 with a personal record of 10.39.22. Ethan Welch in pole vault, taking 1st place with a score of 10-06.00. And the boys 4×100 meter relay (consisting of Jaiden Foster, Kelby Walker, John Dobson and Tyler Martin,) who won 2nd place with a combined time of 47.01. 

After this “runaway” success, the CCCHS track and field team approached the next couple of meets at a smaller scale, achieving victory at less high-stakes events.

The first of these was on April 26th at Franklin County’s Senior Night. With only five high schools competing, the stakes were not nearly as critical, yet still as vital to a successful track season. 

Thankfully, out of four schools Coffee County track and field managed to get second place in both the guys and girls; The guys coming in with a score of 158 beating out Giles County, and the girls with 210.5, beating out Shelbyville by almost 200 points!

Some notable results from each side are as follows:

For the girls, Maddie Sullivan took second place in the 200 m dash with a time of 29.07. Kasen Holt nabbed second place for the girls long jump with a score of 13-10. Ellie Chumley won first place in girls shot put with a score of 13-11. And newcomer Katrine Rhodes with a time of 7:10.87. 

As for the Red Raiders, a couple of notable examples include:

 Ethan Welch, who successfully took first place in the boys 110 m hurdles with a time of 17.97. Jaiden Foster, who came in second place in the 200 m dash with a time of 24.35. And John Dobson and Cayden Miller who successfully took on The boys 400 m dash coming in first and second place. (Their times being 54.26 and 57.15 respectively.)

Following up on this, the Red Raiders traveled up the mountainside to participate in Saint Andrew’s SAS Meet #2 that very Friday on April 29th. A much steeper meet than the previous, the girls went up against seven other schools, while the boys were challenged by eight! In both cases, however, Coffee County took first place as a team! The girls led by a score of 140, (23 points ahead of Silverdale Baptist Academy.) While the boys took first with a score of 132, beating out St Andrews by just shy of 25 points!

With great scores from both the guys and the girls, there were many great times and placements to back them up. 

Rounding out, some successful girls include Gracie Campbell with a time of 31. 08 for the 200 m dash. Patricia Barrera, with a time of 2:34.32 and winning second place for the 800 m run. Kailee Rossman won second place for the girls

1600 m run with a personal best of 5:43.24. And Jalyn Chase secured third place in girls long jump with a score of 15-00.00. 

And finally, there were many successes on the guy side as well, including:

Jacsen Yancer, who ran a time of 2:38.31 for the 800 m run. Holden Shew and Jacob Slabaugh successfully took fourth and fifth place in the 1600 run, (their times being 5:13.33 and 5:12.42 respectively.) Zach Warrick in the 110 m hurdles with a score of 19:88. And Tristan Galy, who took first place in the boys long jump with a score of 19-08.50. 

Coffee County track and field has had a very inconsistently challenging but also consistently rewarding season this spring. With many newcomers succeeding on the team, as well as many old faces seeing their work payoff, these last finishing races will really get to test these athletes and see if they’re made of sterner stuff.