Matthews triples

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Bill Matthews wasn’t so much worried about the rest of the field as he was his own body.

Baylor’s gifted distance runner knew what his competitors were capable of, but running his third race of the day was taking its toll Friday. Midway through the closing lap of the 800-meter run, Matthews wasn’t sure if he was about to claim his third win of the day or collapse face first onto the track from exhaustion and a tightening hamstring.

“Those last 300 meters were grueling,” Matthews said. “I just reminded myself that this was the last race of my high school career, so finish strong.”

Matthews held on for a near personal best in the 800, adding that victory to his previous Division II state wins earlier Friday in the 3200 and the 1600. Matthews, a University of Georgia signee, finished his prep career with 10 individual state titles and became the first distance runner in state history to win the three longest races in consecutive seasons.

“I average running 10-15 miles a day, but it’s different when you’re competing,” Matthews said. “All that work I put in is to be prepared for competitions like today. Those three and a half miles I ran today were some of the toughest I’ve ever put in, especially in this heat. But I’m happy with the way my prep career ended.”

Matthews was the most decorated area athlete at Friday’s state track meet, with no other competitor winning more than one individual event.

Ooltewah’s 4x200 relay team won the Class AAA title and Sammy Seamster, who anchored that team, finished second in the 200 and fourth in the 400. But trying to help the Owls’ 4x100 team make up ground on his anchor leg, Seamster left too early and disqualified the foursome.

“I wasn’t really thinking about the earlier run when I was waiting for my turn in the 4x200,” Seamster said. “I just concentrated on taking the handoff and then taking off. What happened earlier was over, so I just wanted to stick with it and make sure we won.”

Ooltewah teammate Jacques Smith won the discus and finished second in the shot put, and the Owls finished third in the AAA team standings.

Tyner’s 4x100 team held off Howard for first place and the Rams finished fifth in the Class A/AA team standings. Also in A/AA, Hixson’s Kris Taylor was second to Dyersburg’s Justin Whitfield in the 400 and Howard’s Brandon Banks was third in the 100.

“I hate to lose to the same guy I did last year, but I ran a personal best (49.13), so that’s all I could do,” Taylor said.