MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - McKenzie Ethridge can run like the wind. But she can't run as fast against it, and the strong headwind she faced at Thursday's state track and field meet at Middle Tennessee State University blew away any chance she had of breaking state records in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
Despite not reaching her ultimate goal of setting sprint records, the Signal Mountain senior did successfully defend her Class A/AA state championships in those events, winning the 100 in 12.19 seconds and the 200 in 24.40 to become the state's first sprinter to win the 100 and 200 three times each.
She also anchored the first-place 4x100 relay to help pace the Lady Eagles to their third straight team state title as well. Signal Mountain rallied late to beat East Nashville 100-90 in total team points.
"The wind was not in our favor today," said Ethridge, who finishes her prep career with a total of nine state championships. "You just hope you get to run when it's not blowing so hard, but that wasn't the case.
"I really was wanting to go after the records, but you can only do your best with what you're given. And it's still definitely exciting to cap my high school career with wins."
Ethridge led a contingent of Chattanooga sprinters who took four of the top five places in the A/AA 100, and when she took the baton in the 4x100, the Lady Eagles were in third place but she quickly overtook the competition and pulled away.
Signal Mountain teammate Camryn Bowman won the shot put and finished second in the discus, and Lady Eagles senior Katie Lingle was second in the triple jump.
Signal Mountain, which had girls score points in 13 of 18 events, took the lead for good in the next to last event of the day when Stephanie Peterson finished second in the 3200. With a six-point lead going into the final event, the 4x400, the Lady Eagles foursome of Emma Johnson, Katie Lingle, Avery Engels and Taylor Luthringer won the race to secure the title.
Their previous best time this season was 4:10, and they ran a 4:01 on Thursday.
"I'm so excited for our seniors and everyone on the team who worked so hard for this," Lady Eagles coach Dustin Carpenter said. "We knew going into that last event we just needed to finish fourth or better to secure the championship, but those girls were not going to be satisfied with anythng but winning it. That shows the kind of competitiveness we have on this team."
Arts & Sciences junior Lennex Walker continued to prove she's one of the state's top overall track athletes with wins in the 100 hurdles and triple jump and a second-place finish in the long jump. She also finished fourth in the 200 to go along with her second-place finish in Monday's pentathlon.
Walker won the 100 hurdles (14.34) just ahead of East Nashville's Grenetria Shell's 14.37, avenging a narrow loss to Shell in last year's state event.
"I had thought about that a lot since last year," said Walker, who scored 41 points by herself to put CSAS in fourth place in the team standings. "Last year I wasn't as strong at the end and hit the last two hurdles to slow me way down. I've worked a lot on being stronger at the end.
"I'm tired. It's been a long day and really a tough week, but that's what makes us competitors, pushing through when you're worn out."
Also in Class A/AA, Brainerd's Ebony Calloway won the 300 hurdles and teammate Simone Hicks was second in the shot put, and Chattanooga Christian's Sydney Ibach finished second in the pole vault.
Tyner's Nicole Johnson, Alexis Wilson and Vivian Smith were second, third and fifth in the 100, and Johnson was fifth in the 200.
In Division II, Baylor's Rachel Smith finished second in the pole vault. The Lady Red Raiders finished seventh in the team standings, and Girls Preparatory School was ninth.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.