Several local athletes will be representing their respective school at next week’s Clark’s Pump-N-Shop State Track & Field Championships
CLINE’S TIME – After finishing runner-up in the state over the past two seasons, Paris’ junior sensation Briley Cline will head into this year’s 1A State Meet as the sprinter to beat in both events, as both long-time state 1A records could be in jeopardy. JENNIFER ARNETT I For The Citizen
Bourbon County sending a bus load to the 2A State Meet; Briley Cline will lead Paris and Andrew Watkins will be the one to watch for Nicholas County
IVAN K. RICE I doctorofsports@aol.com
PARIS, KY – The KHSAA 2023 Clark’s Pump-N-Shop State Track & Field Championships will be held at the University of Kentucky Outdoor Track and Field Facility with the 1A meet being contested on June 1st and the 2A meet on June 2nd.
State track and field qualifiers for Paris, Bourbon County and Nicholas County are listed below with their performance times and ranking and the post time of the event heading into their respective state meet competition. Paris and Nicholas will compete in 1A, while Bourbon will compete in 2A. Class 1A is official and Class 2A will be official later this evening.
CHUMBLEY DIDN’T GIVE UP – Her battle with Covid for two years put a damper on senior Katy Chumbley’s track career, but her determination and fight has brought her all the way back. Now, the regional triple jump champion will try to end her career by winning a state medal in her specialty event to cap off a journey to remember. JENNIFER ARNETT I For The Citizen
Heading into their state track meet ranked No. 1 are the following individuals: Paris’ Briley Cline, the two-time defending state runner-up in the 100 and 200 meter dash will be the one to beat in the 1A 100 and 200 meter dash; Nicholas County’s Andrew Watkins in the 1A triple jump; Bourbon County’s Jaquez Campbell in the long jump, where he is the returning champion; Bourbon’s Tayvon Snowden is in a three-way tie for first but he’ll be ranked third in the pole vault; Ava Hernandez is tied for first but she’ll be No. 1 ranked in the pole vault.
In addition, according to Colonel assistant track coach Shelly Simpson, Bourbon County set 26 PR’s during the regional meet, which comes out to nearly every kid that competed, leading Coach Drew Perraut to say the following, “Talk about “Never Quit”! I know Matt (Perraut) and Barry (Simpson) where right there with us – Great job Coaches!”
Paris second-year Head Coach Coach James Murphy shared this over his Facebook page about his team.
“Shout out to all of our athletes who qualified for state. It is truly a blessing to watch these young men and women fight to get to this stage, both in practice and on performance days.”
Nicholas County Coach Travis Yazell had this to say about his Blue Jackets and Lady Jackets.
“I’m proud of all of our athletes. We will be competing in 15 events at state.”
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–PARIS GREYHOUNDS–
10:20 AM – 100m dash – Darian Bell (8th) 11.38
1:00 PM – 200m dash – Darian Bell (4th) 22.91
BY FAR THE MOST IMPROVED – Despite the slow start to his season, Greyhound sophomore Darian Bell has turned things around so much that he is now a premier sprinter in the 1A division. He should medal in one of his two events with an outside chance of winning the state title in the 200 meter dash. JENNIFER ARNETT I For The Citizen
12:40 PM – 800m run – Bruce Hayden (19th) 2:05.99
10:30 AM – Mixed 2x50m Unified relay – Paris (9th) 19.58
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–PARIS LADYHOUNDS–
10:10 AM – 100m dash – Briley Cline (1st) 11.34
12:50 PM – 200m dash – Briley Cline (1st) 25.84
9:00 AM – Long Jump – Katy Chumbley (16th) 14-10.75
10:30 AM – Triple Jump – Katy Chumbley (7th) 32-09
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–NICHOLAS COUNTY BLUE JACKETS–
10:00 AM – 110m high hurdles – Andrew Watkins (24th) 18.23
11:05 AM – 1600m run – Maddox Donovan (9th) 4:40.23
12:20 PM – 300m hurdles – Andrew Watkins (12th) 43.75
12:40 PM – 800m run – Maddox Donovan (21st) 2:07.07
1:55 PM – 4x400m relay – Nicholas County (19th) 3:43.46
10:45 AM – Discus Throw – Wyatt Simons (10th) 122-01
9:00 AM – Shot Put – Wyatt Simons (12th) 42-04.75
10:30 AM – Long Jump – Alex Koeder (18th) 19-03.75
LOOKING TO WIN – Nicholas County’s senior Andrew Watkins, shown here winning the 300m hurdles at the Region 5 Championship, will compete in three individual events at the 1A State Meet, including the triple jump, where he is ranked No. 1 going into the event. He will also run the 110 meter high hurdles. JENNIFER ARNETT I For The Citizen
9:00 AM – Triple Jump – Andrew Watkins (1st) 42-04.75
9:00 AM – High Jump – Alex Koeder (11th) 5-10
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–NICHOLAS COUNTY LADY JACKETS–
10:35 AM – 4x200m relay – Nicholas County (23rd) 1:56.38
11:45 AM – 400m dash – Callie Ball (16th) 1:03.45
10:30 AM – Shot Put – Meghan Planck (19th) 29-08.25; Katie Caswell (23rd) 29-01.75
9:00 AM – High Jump – Callie Ball (18th) 4-06
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–BOURBON COUNTY COLONELS–
12:20 PM – 300m hurdles – Asher Mattox (3rd) 40.80
10:20 AM – 100m dash – Jaquez Campbell (8th) 11.34; Jacob Ezell (20th) 11.58
A CHAMPION RETURNS – Bourbon County senior Jaquez Campbell, pictured here competing in the indoor state long jump, will try to defend his outdoor long jump title at next week’s 2A State Championship. He’ll be ranked No. 1 in the event. Campbell also qualified in the 100 and 200 meter dash. JENNIFER ARNETT I For The Citizen
1:00 PM – 200m dash – Jaquez Campbell (9th) 22.89; Jacob Ezell (15th) 23.14
11:55 AM – 400m dash – Jesus Mendoza-solis (5th) 50.79; John Perraut (21st) 53.29
12:40 PM – 800m run – Mendoza-solis (3rd) 2:01.08; Nate Berry (7th) 2:01.90
1:25 PM – 3200m run – Bryce Watkins (15th) 10:24.84
11:35 AM – 4x100m relay – Bourbon County (2nd) 43.70
10:45 AM – 4x200m relay – Bourbon County (7th) 1:32.34
1:55 PM – 4x400m relay – Bourbon County (3rd) 3:28.74
9:25 AM – 4x800m relay – Bourbon County (2nd) 8:19.37
10:30 AM – Long Jump – Jaquez Campbell (1st) 21-09; Marcus Floyd (11th) 20-06
9:00 AM – Triple Jump – Marcus Floyd (29th) 39-07.50
OUTSTANDING STAFF – The track and field coaching staff of the Bourbon County Colonels and Lady Colonels show of their trophy their teams won at Tuesday night’s Region 4 Track and Field Championship. The boys won the region team title and the girls finished as runner-up. Pictured in the photo from left to right are Abby Sparks, Michael Felty, Head Coach Drew Perraut, Brian Watkins, and Shelly Simpson.
9:00 AM – Pole Vault – Tayvon Snowden (1st) 13-00
9:00 AM – High Jump – Marcus Floyd (21st) 5-08
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–BOURBON COUNTY LADY COLONELS–
9:50 AM – 100m hurdles – Marleigh Estes (6th) 16.61
12:10 PM – 300m hurdles – Bethany Simpson (2nd) 47.20; Estes (5th) 48.42
11:45 AM – 400m dash – Kylie Hernandez (5th) 1:01.06; Sarah Scott (7th) 1:02.30
12:30 PM – 800m run – Kylie Hernandez (12th) 2:29.75; Macey Mckinzie (19th) 2:35.08
SHE’LL HAVE A CHANCE – Bourbon County junior Bethany Simpson will head into the state meet ranked No. 2 in the 300 meter hurdles. The track phenom will have a serious chance of winning the state title in the event. She also qualified in the 1600 and 3200 meter runs.
10:55 AM – 1600m run – Bethany Simpson (7th) 5:21.05
1:10 PM – 3200m run – Bethany Simpson (12th) 12:02.77
11:25 AM – 4x100m relay – Bourbon County (22nd) 53.12
10:35 AM – 4x200m relay – Bourbon County (10th) 1:49.44
1:40 PM – 4x400m relay – Bourbon County (2nd) 4:09.03
9:00 AM – 4x800m relay – Bourbon County (7th) 10:23.27
9:00 AM – Long Jump – Alana Puscus (23rd) 14-04.50
9:00 AM – Pole Vault – Ava Hernandez (1st) 10-06; Kayla Brianard (4th) 9-06
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Check out next week’s Bourbon County Citizen’s sports section (June 1 issue) to read about Bourbon County’s Region 4 Boys’ Class 2A Team Title and the Lady Colonels Regional Runner-up finish and how the Paris and Nicholas County track teams fared at their 1A Region 5 Championship.
