Area Spring Fling state decathlon qualifiers
(Five events will be held Monday, the remaining five on Tuesday)Class AAA: Chase Sholl (Rhea County)Division II: Romeo Gibbs (McCallie)Area Spring Fling state pentathlon qualifiers(All five events will be held Monday)Class A/AA: Lennex Walker (Arts & Sciences), Aryn Sanders (Signal Mountain), Jamee' Ward (Brainerd)Division II: Selena Popp (Baylor), Rachel Smith (Baylor)
The first state championships to be claimed at this week's TSSAA Spring Fling are arguably the most physically and mentally grueling. While the other four sports (baseball, soccer, softball, tennis) will begin play Tuesday, today belongs to those brave track and field athletes competing in the decathlon and pentathlon.
Five area female athletes will compete in today's pentathlon, and two area boys take part in the two-day decathlon. Arts & Sciences' Lennex Walker, Brainerd's Jamee' Ward and Signal Mountain's Aryn Sanders qualified for the pentathlon in Class A/AA, and Baylor's Selena Popp and Rachel Smith qualified in Division II. The area decathletes are Rhea County junior Chase Sholl and McCallie's Romeo Gibbs.
Of that group, only Popp and Sanders have previous experience at the state level, with Popp making her fifth appearance in the state pentathlon.
"It takes a toll on you physically and mentally," said Popp, who won the state title as a sophomore and has also finished second and third. "To start off the week doing five events in one day, it's really tough trying to get back to being your best by Thursday (the day of the girls' state meet).
"You have to be mentally prepared for a long day and just keep pushing through. And then the rest of the week you spend recovering and resting to be ready to go again."
Popp, who has been a multisport athlete throughout her Baylor career, admitted that the pentathlon is the toughest sport she competes in every year.
The girls' state track & field competition takes place on Thursday and the boys' state meet is on Friday.
Popp and CSAS's Walker also will compete in four events -- the maximum allowed by the TSSAA -- in Thursday's girls' state meet, and Rhea County's Sholl will do the same in the boys' meet Friday.
Once rested, Popp will compete Thursday in the D-II high jump, triple jump, 100-meter hurdles and 300 hurdles. Baylor teammate Rachel Smith is the only freshman to qualify in D-II.
Only a sophomore, Walker qualified with the third-most points in Class A/AA and is also qualified for Thursday's state meet in the long jump, triple jump, 100-meter hurdles and 300 hurdles.
"Lennex didn't even think about competing in the pentathlon until about two weeks before the East Tennessee qualifier," said CSAS coach Brandon Lowry. "When we went for the state qualifier, she had never high jumped in competition and had only run the 100 hurdles one time in competition. She went up there on pure athletic ability, but very little experience.
"She has so much God-given talent and she's a fearless worker and competitor, and all of that makes her really special. It's an all-day grind coming up, but she's very mentally tough, so we'll see what she can do."
Sholl qualified with the most total points in the boys' Class AAA field. He's also qualified for Friday's state meet in the 200 meters, 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles and anchors the state-qualifying 4x100 relay.
"This has been his breakout year," said Rhea County coach Doug Keylon. "He focused on making the decathlon his goal this year and put a lot of time and training into that.
"He's taking a big risk by competing in the decathlon, because he's also one of the state's top hurdlers, so we'll see how much these next two days take out of him. He's a racer. If you get next to him, he thrives off that. He gets a little faster if somebody is close to him. He's got a quality you can't coach, and our whole community is excited for him."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.