by Rusty Ellis
Coverage of the Spring Fling is presented by Steel Technologies
It was a successful start to Spring Fling for the Upper Cumberland, as area athletes won five state championships in the Class A and AA State Meet.
York was well-represented early, as Eli Kirby won the Class A Boys Shot Put Championship with a best throw of 46-2.0. While he says he felt like he could’ve done better, Kirby still felt rewarded for his hard work leading up to the meet.
“It feels awesome, I’ve been working for this for awhile now,” Kirby said. “I didn’t have the throw I wanted, but it was enough to secure the win…it’s pretty rewarding, just getting out there and working like I have, it’s a pretty special moment.”
Fellow York athletes Reese and Gabby Beaty followed that up with excellent performances in both Shot Put and Discus, as the former won the State Championship for both events.
“It’s definitely great, I’ve had a lot of fun doing track,” Reese Beaty said. “We just go out there and throw everyday, and it’s something that from the beginning of the year to now, I’ve gained about 20 feet on discus, and a couple feet on shot.”
Gabby Beaty wraps up an illustrious track and field career of her own with a second-place finish in Shot Put and a fourth-place finish in discus, as she says it was just special to get to spend two of her years competing with her younger sister.
“I’m just happy to be here,” Beaty said. “It’s just such an honor to even make it to State…track is something I came into with no experience, and I’m thankful to have gotten to do it for three years. I’m just thankful I had these last two years with my sister.”
Upperman sophomore Meiah Moss also represented the Upper Cumberland well, as she won the State Championship for Class AA Girls High Jump with a best of 5-2.
“It feels really good because last year I tied and ended up getting third,” Moss said. “So coming into this year, it was my goal to get first…I was nervous at first, but as it went on, I knew I had to own it and just not get scared if I wanted to win. Sometimes it is a struggle when I don’t perform as well as I wanted to, but you just have to let it go and move on.”
Cumberland County junior Jacob Atkinson closed out the State Championships for the Upper Cumberland by winning the Class AA Boys Pole Vault Championship with a high of 13-6.
Other podium finishers from the area included:
- Clarkrange’s Mattie Bush: 5th place in Class A Long Jump, 3rd place in Class A Triple Jump
- York’s Josie Linder: 4th place in Class A 400m Dash
- Clarkrange’s Nathan York: 3rd place in Class A High Jump, 7th place in Class A Triple Jump
- York’s Eli Kirby: 3rd place in Class A Discus
- Clarkrange’s Jaylyn Butler: 4th place in Class A Boys 400m dash, 5th place in Class A Boys 110m Hurdles
- York’s Aidan Sweathomas: 4th place in Class A Boys 800m run
- York’s 4x200m Team: 4th place
- Upperman’s Meiah Moss: 6th place in Class AA 100m Hurdles
- Cumberland County’s Layla Selby: 7th place in Class AA Pole Vault
- Stone Memorial’s Aaron Conley: 7th place in Class AA Triple Jump
- Stone Memorial’s Nathan Wagner: 6th place in Class AA 1600m Run
- Cumberland County’s Zachariah Ostrander: 6th place in Class AA 3200m Run
Photos by Michael Lindsay and Rusty Ellis
