The Craig County track team competed on a hot day in Narrows last week in the Pioneer District championship meet. It was the Rockets’ first meet in over a month due to inclement weather but the Rockets had a good day none the less.
“Not having a meet in over a month and missing one of our fastest kids presented some challenges but the kids battled hard,” said coach Jayke Dowdy.
Craig was missing Bradyn Dunbar, who was out with an injury. The Region1C meet was scheduled to be held at Eastern Montgomery High on Tuesday, weather permitting, and Dowdy was hoping Dunbar might return for that. Bradyn has already qualified for the state meet with a previous time, so he’ll advance whether he’s available this week or not.
Even without Dunbar the Craig County boys won the district 4×100 relay championship. Dylan Sarver subbed for Bradyn and ran on a foursome with Robbie Eakin, Bentley Smith and Carter Calfee to win the race with a time of 46.99.
“Running without our injured anchor leg, we had two new faces in the 4x100m relay,” said Dowdy. “It wasn’t pretty, but they busted their tails to still get the job done.”
Calfee ran PRs(personal records) to finish second in the 100 and 200 dashes. Carter ran a time of 11.63 in the 100 and 23.93 in the 200.
Caleb Cregger was second in the 300 hurdles with a time of 45.38. The Rockets also took third and fifth in the event as Eakin ran a time of 48.20 and Smith crossed the line at 51.80. Eakin and Brad Arthurs were fourth and fifth in the 110 high hurdles.
Cregger and Smith tied for third in the high jump, clearing 5’4”. Cregger was fourth in the triple jump and Calfee took sixth in the long jump.
In the throwing events Noah Paxton tossed the discus 107’11” to take third while Caleb Fields was fifth and Blake Hannah was sixth. Paxton was also fifth in the shot put.
In the girls’ meet Craig had just one competitor, junior Desirae Will. She earned one point with a sixth place finish in the 200.
“This was her first year giving it a try and I’m glad she did,” said Dowdy. “She works extremely hard, and was the only girl at practice by the end of the season which makes it hard being surrounded by all boys. She didn’t let that phase her and she made significant improvements throughout the year, becoming the first girl to make the 16MPH Club for the school.”
