Cookeville had four athletes compete yesterday at the Vanderbilt High School Indoor Invitational, and all four faired very well in some tough competition. This meet has entry standards to even be accepted into the meet, making it a premier meet for athletes across the state as well as surrounding states.
Racing for the highest finish of the day from Cookeville, Landri Wilcox ran to an impressive second place finish in the Middle School Girls Mile in a time of 5:30 on the 300m indoor track. Winning the girls’ race was Cathryn Jardet of Knoxville Youth Athletics.
While not finishing as the overall race leader, Jacob Sparks, had one of the best races of the day. Competing in the second heat of the Middle School Boys Mile, Sparks, was in fifth place for his heat coming upon 250m to go in the race. He found another speed and impressively took off each of the competitors ahead of him to win his heat in a personal record time of 5:26. Even though racing in the second heat, his time of 5:26 moved him to an 11th place overall finish.
Cookeville High School senior, Conner Hawkins, qualified to race in the High School Boys Seeded Mile against an extremely competitive field of the best milers in the state. Hawkins was racing the first and fastest section of the field of 33 athletes. Hawkins raced a very strategic race finishing in 4:17 for a fifth place finish.
Competing in a combination running and field events, Cookeville High School senior, Patrick Gago, had a good day at his first trip the meet. Gago finished the 60m hurdles in a time of 8.73 for an 11th place finish in the prelims where only the top 8 athletes advance to the finals. Also competing in a pair of field event jumps, Gago saw another 11th place finish in the high jump with a mark of 5′ 7.5″. Moving on the the unseeded long jump, Patrick saw his highest finish of the day with an 8th place, 19′ 0.5″ jump.
Information by Jo Mussard
