KHSAA state track and field qualifiers are set for Paris, Bourbon County, and Nicholas County

Class 1A will get underway Thursday and Class 2A will step on UK’s track Friday; Paris and Nicholas County will compete in 1A, while Bourbon County will do their work in Class 2A

IVAN K. RICE l doctorofsports@aol.com

LEXINGTON, KY – The KHSAA 2024 Clark’s Pump-N-Shop State Track & Field Championships will be held at the University of Kentucky Outdoor Track and Field Complex with the 1A meet being contested today, May 30 and the 2A meet tomorrow, May 31, with Class 3A going at it on Saturday, June 1.

PASSING THE TORCH – Lady Colonel super sophomore sensation Marleigh Estes, the defending state 2A runner-up in the 300 meter hurdles, qualified for the state meet in four events, which includes the 300 meter hurdles where she’s ranked third. The cheer all-star is the next track phenom for the Lady Colonels, especially since a stellar high school career is coming to an end for Bourbon County talented senior runner Bethany Simpson, who is headed to Coastal Carolina in the fall to continue her track career. Simpson qualified for the 2A state in four events and going into the state meet, she’s ranked third in three of those events and second in another.

State track and field qualifiers for Paris, Bourbon County and Nicholas County are listed below with their region qualifying performances, ranking going into state, and the post time of their event heading into their respective state meet class. Coach James Murphy’s Paris Greyhounds, and Coach Travis Yazell’s Nicholas County Bluejackets will compete in 1A, while Coach Drew Perraut’s Bourbon County Colonels will compete in 2A. Coach Perraut’s Bourbon County boys’ team is the defending 2A state runners-up. Looking back at last season, in one of the best performances ever by the Colonels boys’ track and field team, the 2023 2A state team title came down to the final event of the day (4×400 relay) and Bourbon, who had a chance, fell short of the program’s first state team title losing out to two-time defending champion Mercer County by a measly two points.

Heading into this season’s state track meet ranked No. 1 are the following individuals: Paris’ Briley Cline, the defending state champion in the 100 and 200 meter dash, will be the one to beat in the 1A 100 and 200 meter dash; Bourbon County junior Asher Mattox will be ranked No. 1 in the 300 meter hurdles, where he placed third in the event a year ago; Bourbon’s Tayvon Snowden, the defending state champion in the event, is in a three-way tie for first but he’ll be ranked second in the pole vault because of misses during the region meet.

PUSHING TOWARDS A STATE TITLE AND SCHOOL-RECORD – Greyhound freshman Bruce Hayden will be in the running for the 1A state championship in the 800 meter run, where he’s currently ranked sixth. Hayden, who placed 9th a year ago in the event, will also be aiming to break the long-standing Paris school-record in the event.

In addition, Lady Colonel sophomore Ava Hernandez is the defending state runner-up in the pole vault. She’ll enter the state meet this season ranked third, while sophomore Marleigh Estes, the defending state runner-up in the 300 meter hurdles, will be ranked third heading into the most prestigious meet of the spring season. Colonel junior Jesus Mendoza-solis, who has battled an injury, is the defending 2A state runner-up in the 800 meter run. He’ll enter the state meet tomorrow ranked 11th in the event.

Qualifying to state in three individual events were Estes (100m hurdles, 300m hurdles, high jump) and her Bourbon County teammate Bethany Simpson (800m run, 1600m run, high jump), as well as Nicholas County’s Alex Koeder (long jump, triple jump, high jump).

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 –PARIS GREYHOUNDS–

12:40 PM – 800m run – Bruce Hayden (6th) 2:00.25

10:30 AM – Mixed 2x50m Unified relay – Aleana Barrett, Brandon Santiago (11th) 20.90

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–PARIS LADYHOUNDS–

10:10 AM – 100m dash – Briley Cline (1st) 12.20

12:50 PM – 200m dash – Briley Cline (1st) 24.89

KOEDER WILL BE BUSY – Junior Alex Koeder, shown here running a leg on Nicholas County’s qualifying 4×200 relay team, will also compete in three individual state 1A field events for the Bluejackets.

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–NICHOLAS COUNTY BLUE JACKETS–

9:25 AM – 4x800m relay – Nicholas County (15th) 9:05.80

10:45 AM – 4x200m relay – Nicholas County (14th) 1:34.18

12:20 PM – 300m hurdles – Maddox Donovan (15th) 43.58

1:00 PM – 200m dash – Wyatt Clark (15th) 23.32

9:00 AM – Shot Put – Wyatt Simons (16th) 45-04.50; Weston Fryman (21st) 42-11.25

9:00 AM – Triple Jump – Alex Koeder (4th) 42-03.50

9:00 AM – High Jump – Wyatt Clark (4th) 6-00; Alex Koeder (14th) 5-10

SIMONS WILL THROW AGAINST THE BEST – Nicholas County sophomore Wyatt Simons won the 1A Region 5 discus title and placed third in the shot put. He will represent the Bluejackets in both events on Thursday. He led the Nicholas boys to a region runners-up finfish.

10:30 AM – Long Jump – Alex Koeder (9th) 20-04.50

11:00 AM – Discus Throw – Wyatt Simons (13th) 127-05

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—NICHOLAS COUNTY LADY JACKETS–

10:35 AM – 4x200m relay – Nicholas County (23rd) 1:55.58

BIG DAY FOR BALL – Nicholas County sophomore Callie Ball will compete in three events at the 1A state meet following her nice showing during the Regionals, where she helped the Lady Jackets to a fourth place finish in the team standings.

12:50 PM – 200m dash – Callie Ball (23rd) 27.86

9:00 AM – Pole Vault – Ryan Jeter (20th) 6-06

9:00 AM – High Jump – Callie Ball (23rd) 4-06

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–BOURBON COUNTY COLONELS-–

9:25 AM – 4x800m relay – Bourbon County (4th) 8:27.04

10:00 AM – 110m hurdles – Asher Mattox (11th) 16.44

11:05 AM – 1600m run – Christopher Wells (17th) 4:41.85

11:55 AM – 400m dash – Jacob Ezell (6th) 50.78; Jesus Mendoza-solis (15th) 52.16

12:20 PM – 300m hurdles – Asher Mattox (1st) 39.32

12:40 PM – 800m run – Jesus Mendoza-solis (11th) 2:02.04

1:25 PM – 3200m run – Christopher Wells (8th) 10:12.00; Kenneth Salas (19th) 10:47.26

1:55 PM – 4x400m relay – Bourbon County (2nd) 3:28.59

TWO OF THE BEST – Colonel junior Jesus Mendoza-solis along with fellow junior Asher Mattox are pictured here with their medal they won at the inaugural KHSAA Indoor State Championships. Mendoza-solis, who has been battling an injury, will head into Friday’s 2A state meet as the defending state runner-up in the 800 meter run, while Mattox will be ranked No. 1 in the 300 meter hurdles. Mattox placed third at state a year ago in the event.

9:00 AM – Pole Vault – Tayvon Snowden (2nd) 13-00; Mark Perraut (4th) 12-06

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–BOURBON COUNTY LADY COLONELS–

9:00 AM – 4x800m relay – Bourbon County (5th) 10:26.75

9:50 AM – 100m hurdles – Marleigh Estes (9th) 16.71

10:55 AM – 1600m run – Bethany Simpson (3rd) 5:18.05; Macey McKinzie (16th) 5:53.17

11:45 AM – 400m dash – Addison Felty (9th) 1:01.55; Makenna Hunter (22nd) 1:04.26

12:10 PM – 300m hurdles – Marleigh Estes (3rd) 47.42

12:30 PM – 800m run – Bethany Simpson (3rd) 2:20.19; Sarah Scott (4th) 2:21.19

1:10 PM – 3200m run – Ruby DeAtley (16th) 13:25.64

1:40 PM – 4x400m relay – Bourbon County (2nd) 4:07.99

9:00 AM – Pole Vault – Ava Hernandez (3rd) 10-08

9:00 AM – High Jump – Bethany Simpson (3rd) 5-00; Marleigh Estes (21st) 4-08

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ONE DAY SHE WILL BE THERE – Nicholas County seventh grader Vella Dunn participated in the 1A Region 5 Championships in the triple jump competition. Although Dunn didn’t qualify to the state in the event, she will have at least five more years to accomplish that feat.

—All Paris and Bourbon County track photos taken by Jennifer Arnett—

—All Nicholas County photos taken by Alisha Dunn—

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STATE TITLE WILL BE WITHIN REACH – Lady Colonel sophomore Ava Hernandez will head into the state meet as the defending state runner-up in the pole vault.

A TRUE SPRINT CHAMPION – Ladyhound senior sprinter Briley Cline, who just recently signed her National Letter of Intent to run track for the University of Kentucky, will try to repeat her 1A state titles from last season. She currently shares the 100 meter dash 1A state record.

LET’S DO THIS AGAIN – Colonel senior Tayvon Snowden won the 2A state title in the pole vault last season and he’s looking to repeat that feat this season and become only a handful of athletes from this area to ever repeat as an individual state track champion.

2024 NICHOLAS COUNTY HIGH BOYS AND GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD TEAM: Coach Travis Yazell’s Nicholas County boys’ team finished as Class 1A Region 5 Runners-up, while the girls’ team placed fourth overall.