Russellville junior wins four region titles at Class 1A, Region 2 Track and Field Meet
By Perry Swack
Area athletes from Monroe County, Russellville, Cumberland County, Todd County Central, and Metcalfe County participated in the Class 1A, Region 2 track and field meet on May 16 at Bethlehem High School in Bardstown. Russellville junior Jermani Morris stole the show, winning a total of four region titles at the meet. Her day began in the 100-meter dash, where she successfully defended her region title with a time of 13.01 seconds (in 2022, she ran in 13.14). Morris next helped Russellville take the gold in both the 4×200 meter relay and the 4×100 meter relay with times of 1:51.92 in the 4×200 and 52.18 seconds in the 4×100. She capped off her day with a 26.57 time in the 200 for her fourth title. Morris shaved off nearly 1.5 seconds of time from her time in 2022 (she also placed first).
Lady Panther senior A’miyah Collier was a part of the two relay teams that placed first, while also finishing second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.15 seconds. Freshman Jaeda Poindexter and junior Akiah Bell rounded out the quartet that won the two relay events. As a team, the Lady Panthers placed fifth overall.
Monroe County placed third as a team on the women’s side behind a strong showing on both the track and in the field. Ansley Turner took home the school’s only region title at the meet as she won the high jump behind a final round score of 5-02. The freshman also placed third in the pole vault with a final round of 9-00. Aubrey Graves placed second in the pole vault behind a final round tally of 9-00. The Lady Falcon senior also finished fourth (13.90 seconds) in the 100-meter dash and sixth in the 200 (29.40). Hailey Garmon placed second in the long jump (14-08.75) and third in the triple jump (29-07.00), while Carlee Yorkey took fourth in the high jump with a score of 4-04. Turner, Graves, Garmon, and Yorkey also finished second in the 4×100 meter relay to cap off a successful region meet,
Other area high finishers on the women’s side included Cumberland County placing fifth in the 4×400 relay and sixth in the 4×200 relay as Graci Craft, Raelyn Alexander, Abby Elmore, and Preslie Fletcher ran the 4×400 and Craft, Alexander, Autumn Sells, and Abby Elmore ran the 4×200. The eighth grader Alexander placed fifth in the 400-meter dash and the junior Craft took fourth in the 800. Todd County Central sophomore Ava Scott placed sixth in the 100-meter hurdles and was joined by Jesslynn Ezell, Daymea Scott, and Mary Beth Prather to take sixth in the 4×100 relay. Metcalfe County eighth grader Jalisa London took sixth in the 400-meter dash.
Men’s Results
The only area men’s team to place in the top five was Todd County Central who finished fifth overall. The Rebels were led by Fisher Borders and Franklin Grullon who placed second and third in the 100-meter dash before taking second and fifth in the 200-meter dash. Borders, Grullon, Sonny Borders, and BJ Farlow finished second in the 4×200 relay and third in the 4×100 relay as well.
Cumberland County senior Garett Scott won the region title in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:03.98, while teammate Parker Shelley placed fifth with a time of 2:14.96. Tyler Dowdy finished fourth in the 200 with a time of 24.32 seconds. The Panther relay of Scott, Shelley, Dowdy, and Matthew Fitzgerald took fifth in the 4×400 (3:46.33). Scott, Shelley, Kaden Morgan, and Reiley Conover placed third in the 4×800 relay behind a time of 9:06.91. Russellville sophomore Justin Bigbee placed second in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 42.33 seconds.
The state qualifiers from each event will now compete in Lexington on June 1 at the Clark’s Pump-n-Shop Track and Field State Championships.
