MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The only athlete who had a more tiring experience than Lennex Walker at Thursday's Spring Fling was Makayla Packer. But by the time evening rolled around, no one had a more productive day.
While Baylor's Packer, an incredibly gifted freshman, was just beginning her athletic story, Arts & Sciences' Walker was putting an exclamation on the end of her decorated prep career.
Walker, a senior and Austin Peay signee, became only the second female athlete in state history to win five individual track and field state championships in the same season - adding long jump, triple jump, 100-meter hurdles and 300 hurdles titles Thursday to the pentathlon she won Monday.
"I'm so excited and feel so blessed," Walker said after her final event of the day. "I knew everyone was looking at me to see what happened today, so I just wanted to go out and put on a good show for the big crowd and have fun."
Walker set personal records in her first and last events Thursday (long jump and 300 hurdles). She jumped 18 feet, 11.25 inches in her first attempt in the long jump, and once the rest of the field failed to match her distance she did not have to make another attempt. She then won the triple jump (36-3) in her second attempt, which allowed her to rest for her hurdles races.
She won the 100 hurdles by nearly two seconds and finished the 300, her final event, in 45.02, the fourth-fastest time by anyone in the state this season, regardless of classification. Despite slowing near the finish of that race, clearly exhausted from the day and the grueling week, Walker again was nearly two seconds ahead of second-place finisher Kennedi Johnson of East Nashville.
"My goal in the 300 was to win the race to the first hurdle, then don't fall down," Walker said with a laugh. "When I woke up my right hamstring was tight, so I was a little worried about it. But it loosened up, and not having to make all my jumps helped save my body a little bit, too.
"It's kind of bittersweet, knowing this was my last high school race. But I know I did my best and I'm excited about running at the next level."
Meanwhile, Packer introduced herself to the rest of the state by winning the Division II 100-meter dash, then anchoring the second-place 4x200 relay and the third-place 4x100. She ran those events between playing two softball games, all within a span of about six hours.
"I didn't have much time to warm up when I got to the track," said Packer, still wearing the eyeblack on her cheeks from Baylor's first softball game. "My only plan was to get here and run as many events as I could before it was time to get back to the softball field. I'm a little tired, but I'll be OK."
She was shuttled to the track after Baylor lost to GPS, then back to the softball field to help the Lady Red Raiders beat St. Benedict and set up a rematch with the Bruisers for the state title today. Packer also had the second-fastest qualifying time in the 200 meters but had to return to the softball field before she had the chance to run that event.
Signal Mountain's Camryn Bowman swept the Class A/AA titles in the discus (133 feet) and shot put (39-2.75). Tyner's Alexis Wilson, a Liberty University signee, finished second in the 100 meters (12.37), just behind Lipscomb Academy's Mikele Vickers (12.35).
Chattanooga Christian's 4x200 relay won the A/AA title with a time of 1:44.72.
Baylor's JuToreyia Willis won the D-II triple jump (36-11) and teammate Rachel Smith won the pole vault, clearing 11 feet.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.