The ear-to-ear grin on Ryan Parker’s face had as much to do with his younger sister’s accomplishment as his own.
The Baylor senior, a three sport all-state performer, already had qualified for next week’s Division II state track and field meet in the discus, but when he saw that his sister Catherine, a sophomore, had also qualified in the shot put during Tuesday’s state qualifier at GPS, he lit up.
“That’s so awesome,” said Parker, who will be among the favorites in next week’s Spring Fling meet. “I’m really proud of her, and this just makes today even more special for our whole family.”
The region held the six field events and 3200-meter run Tuesday, with only the first-place finisher in each event guaranteed a spot in next week’s state meet. There are a limited number of at-large bids to be determined, and the remaining running events will be held Thursday at Knoxville Webb.
Ryan Parker’s best throw of 147 feet, 1 inch outdistanced the second-place finisher by nearly 14 feet but was far from his personal best of 165 feet, and for good reason.
“I forgot the region meet was today, so yesterday I went with some friends to rock climb at High Point and my forearms were just destroyed,” said Parker, who will be looking to break the school record of just over 171 feet, held by NFL legend John Hannah. “It was just dumb, but luckily I had enough to win today and advance to next week.”
Catherine Parker threw the shot a personal-best 30-3.5 to qualify for her first state meet.
“I didn’t do well in the discus, so I knew I had to win the shot so we could both compete in the state meet next week together,” Catherine said. “We’re best friends and he’s worked with me and pushed me about every day this spring.”
Baylor’s Rachel Smith set a region record by clearing 11-4 in the pole vault. McCallie had five first-place finishers: Tons Ferguson in the triple jump, Jay Roberts in the shot put, Romeo Gibbs in the long jump, Tripp Butler in the high jump and Pete Pritchard in the pole vault.
Sholl adds three events
Rhea County senior Chase Sholl, a University of Tennessee signee, qualified in three events at Tuesday’s Class AAA sectional at Murfreesboro Riverdale. Sholl, who already had qualified in the decathlon and will look to defend his state title in that grueling competition, added first-place finishes in the 110-meter hurdles, 300 hurdles and 200 dash Tuesday afternoon.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.