Signal Mountain's girls' track and field team showed Saturday that it has plenty of talent as the Lady Eagles captured a team title at the sometimes cold and constantly windy Optimist Meet at Girls Preparatory School.
The Lady Eagles may also have something of a hybrid talent in McKenzie Ethridge, the defending state champion in the 100- and 200-meter dashes who doesn't mind admitting she often combines her weather-watching skills with her athletic preparation when priming for a meet. Ethridge did her part Saturday, winning both sprinting events despite the weather.
With the wind whipping off the Tennessee River, 36 boys and girls teams from Georgia and Tennessee battled strong and sometimes biting cold gusts. Signal Mountain won five events to take top team honors with 110 points and outpace second-place finisher Baylor, which had 77 points, and GPS, which was third with 59 1/2.
On the boys' side, Georgia's Allatoona won eight of the 18 events and captured the team title with 135 points, fighting off challenges from runner-up McCallie (105) and Baylor (82).
Signal Mountain girls' coach Dustin Carpenter credited "a team effort and a lot of individuals."
"But they come together as a team, and they're always cheering each other on. Just a great team atmosphere amongst these girls. They all did great today. It doesn't matter whether it's 80 degrees or 50 degrees. Everybody's got to compete," Carpenter said.
"We still have a lot of work to do, and we've got to make it through the rest of this month. None of this really matters. What really matters is the end of season when we get to May. So that's when we need to be doing what we're supposed to be doing."
Ethridge won the 100-meter dash in 12.52 seconds and the 200 in 25.46 but said she "still has some things to work on."
"I have a tendency not to pick my knees up. And, then, I'm still working on the quick, explosive starts for the blocks, because I know my 100 had a slow start, and that just takes repetition and doing it over and over again," Ethridge said.
"It was challenging because of the strong wind, but I'm pleased. I'm one of those people that will look at the weather 10 days out in advance. And then every day I keep looking at it, and right before I leave for the meet, I look at it again. Days like this, it's definitely colder for sprinters."
Chattanooga-area boys' winners included Chase Scholl of Rhea County taking the 110 hurdles in 14.66; Baylor's Ryan Parker in the discus with a toss of 151 feet, 9 inches; Ka'Saud Featherstone of Ooltewah in the 400 (51.68); Tons Ferguson of McCallie in both the triple jump (43-1) and the high jump (6-2); Andrew Sharpe of McCallie in the pole vault (13-0); Trel Phillips in the shot put (48-10.75 ); and Colby Smith of Bradley Central in the long jump (20-9).
Among the girls, Gordon Lee's Madelyn Lee, a Mississippi State signee, won the shot put (42-1 1/2) and the discus (130-1). Lennex Walker of Arts and Sciences won the 100-meter hurdles (15.11) and the triple jump (37-4 1/2)
"I've been in basketball and I haven't really been on the track," Walker said. "It feels nice to be able to get out here and execute and get my track legs back under me. I just have to work on a couple more technical things."