McKenzie Ethridge is in a hurry to prove she's healthy again.
Competing against the state's top group of sprinters, the Signal Mountain junior was dominant Friday in the Class A/AA East sub-sectional meet at Red Bank, winning the 100 and 200 meters with personal-best times.
"My main goal was just to qualify for the next round and to stay healthy, but winning is always exciting, and especially to do it with personal-best times," said Ethridge, who was hobbled at last year's state meet and has spent this season working toward returning to the form that helped her sweep the state sprint events as a freshman. "I knew this meet would be very competitive, because if you really look at it, whoever comes out of this sectional will probably have some of the fastest times.
Signal Mountain High School's Mallory Young competes and wins the girls 1600 meter run during the TSSAA A-AA East Sub-Sectional Chattanooga Area Track Meet at Red Bank High School on Friday, May 8, 2015."That kind of competition really helped push me today, and it will prepare me for the state meet."
The top four finishers in each event advance to next week's sectional meet, which is the state qualifer. At one point this season the state's top six times for girls' Class A/AA sprinters were by Chattanooga-area athletes.
Ethridge finished the 100 in 11.95, the first time in her career to break the 12-second mark, and won the 200 in 24.87 seconds. She also helped the Lady Eagles' 4x100 relay finish second, and teammate Mallory Young was just as dominant in the distance events, winning the 800-, 1600- and 3200-meter runs.
The Lady Eagles, who won last year's team state title, took the top three places in the 1600 and 3200 and top two spots in the 800 to cruise to the team title with 197.5 points to second-place Brainerd's 64.
Impressive in her own right was Brainerd junior Ebony Calloway, who in her first season of competing in track won the 300 hurdles and helped the 4x400 relay team take first place. Lady Panthers teammate Jamee' Ward also qualified in the 100 hurdles and the 400 and helped both the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams qualify.
"Those girls didn't think they would even want to run track at one point, but once they got out there, they're both competitors and that took over," said Brainerd coach Stanley Jackson. "It's exciting to see how good they can be now that they're working at it."
Red Bank's Kedrick Wilbanks won the boys' 100 and finished fourth in the 200, and the Lions' 4x100 relay also qualified, while teammate Christian Rudd won the 800 and also qualified in the 3200, helping Red Bank claim the team title.
Wilbanks was joined by Notre Dame's Auston Wilbanks and Brainerd's Robert Evans as qualifiers in both the 100 and 200 for next week's sectional at Christian Academy of Knoxville.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.