On a day of upstarts and underclassmen, Hixson’s cast of young sprinters made sure to claim their spot among the qualifiers for next week’s state track meet.
The Wildcats’ 4×400 relay team finished first at Tuesday’s Class A/AA sectional at Red Bank, and the 4×200 group placed second, both securing spots in next week’s Spring Fling for the first time in more than 10 years. Knoxville Fulton won the 4×200.
The top two in each event automatically qualify for the state meet, while other finishers must hope for at-large spots.
Hixson’s 4×400 team of Justin Johnson, Allante Novene, Clarencio Holmes and K.J. Yates easily won that event, and the 4×200 squad included Tre Herkley in place of Johnson. The 4×100 team finished a close third, and Holmes is the long senior in the group.
“You want to win, certainly, but the big thing today is to get in that top two to make sure you qualify for next week,” Hixson coach Houston White said. “We weren’t ready for the 4×100, but we had a pretty good pep talk after that race and were much better in the last two relays.