Knights, Lady Knights have first meet of the season in LaRue County

Friday afternoon the Marion County Knights and Lady Knights opened their seasons at the LaRue County Invitational. Overall, the girls team struggled throughout the meet and was only able to collect three points, while the boys team finished in the middle of the pack with a total of 41 points.  
Individual noteworthy performances on the boys side include Brooks Divine collecting the title from the 300 meter hurdle event and the pole vault. In the 300 meter hurdles Divine ran a time of 42.86 seconds edging out a Green County runner by 0.13 seconds. Divine also cleared an impressive height of 13.0 feet in the pole vault event. Divine was only one of three athletes to clear more than 12.0 feet out of the 13-man field.
Other individual performances on the boys side include a sixth place finish in the 100 meter dash by Buster Hazlewood who turned in a time of 11.69 seconds.  Scott Hunt turned in a time of 54.56 seconds in the 400-meter dash which was good for fourth place. Kendall Taul had an impressive leap of 20 feet in the long jump event, that placed him in fifth place overall.
The girls team collected points in the 4x200 meter relay with an eighth place finish and a time of 2:00.12. This placement garnered the first two points for the girls team with the other point coming in the triple jump event. Natavia Young leapt 29 feet, 10 inches, which was good for eighth place as well.
In other relay team action the boys team grabbed a seventh place finish with a time of 1:41.12 in the 4x200 meter relay. In the 4x100 meter relay the girls collected ninth place with a time of 56.52 seconds, while the boys team nabbed sixth place with a time of 46.64 seconds. In the boys 4x400 relay, the team finished with a time of 4:05.42 giving them tenth place in the event.
The next meet for the track team is set for April 11. This meet is a middle school meet. The next high school meet will be on April 14 at Green County High School. The first home meet for the high school team is scheduled for April 21.

By Jessica Veatch

Hector Santiago participated in the high jump event at last Friday night’s track meet.

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Coach has high hopes...
Going into the season, Head Coach Robby Peterson has high hopes for this year’s track and field team. Both the boys and girls team finished third in the region last season, with 21 athletes making a state appearance.
“We are coming off one of the most successful seasons for Marion County track,” Peterson said.
Peterson has several returners from the boys team that qualified for state last season. The group of Blake Blandford, Scott Hunt, and Nathan Devine will return for the 4x800 relay team, while Jordan Bell, Buster Hazelwood, and Kendal Taul returning for the 4x100 relay team. This trio competed on the team last season that finished 8th in the state in AA. Hazelwood will also compete in the 100-meter dash and Taul will compete in the triple jump. Both Hazelwood and Taul qualified for state last season in these two events as well. Sophomore Brooks Divine will also be back, competing in pole vault and 300-meter hurdles, both of which he qualified for state last season.
“Brooks is one of the top pole vaulters in the state in AA,” Peterson said.
Returning for the girls team are seniors Natavia Young, Tamyra McElroy, and Brooklyn Burnside. Young competed at the state level in the girls 4x100 relay and the triple jump. McElroy joined her on the 4x100 relay team and also competed in shot put.
“Our biggest loss from last year is Jasmine Franklin,” Peterson said. “Also Tessa Simpson missed most of last year due to illness, but I look for her to return back to form and have a very successful season this year.”