Track/Cross Country

Coverage area cross country runners capped off a successful 2023 season at this past weekend’s Kentucky High School Athletic Association State Championships at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Results from the day’s championship races include: Girls Class A (232 runners, 31 teams) Emaly Powers, Williamsburg - 51st place in 22:52.20 Ryan Fields, Williamsburg - 95th place in 24:13.51 Emma Moore, Williamsburg - 105th place in 24:30.17 Isabelle Cuz, Lynn Camp - 120th place in 25:02.10 Sadie Melton, Lynn Camp - 132nd place in 25:22.57 Tatum Croley, Williamsburg - 134th place in 25:27.72 Lauren Partin, Lynn Camp - 150th place in 25:48.94 Emma Meadors, Williamsburg - 196th place in 28:30.30 Williamsburg (team) - 16th place overall Boys Class A (264...

On Saturday, Oct. 21, runners from Corbin, Williamsburg, Lynn Camp and Whitley County high schools made the trip to Cave Lake Park in Wayne County to compete in this year’s regional championship cross country meet. Results for that morning’s Region 6, Class A meets included the following: Girls • Emaly Powers, Williamsburg (2nd place in 22:37.87) • Emma Moore, Williamsburg (14th place in 24:01.21) • Tatum Croley, Williamsburg (15th place in 24:01.88) • Isabelle Cuz, Lynn Camp (17th place in 24:14.45) • Ryan Fields, Williamsburg (19th place in 24:36.50) • Sadie Melton, Lynn Camp (20th place in 24:45.58) • Lauren Partin, Lynn Camp (23rd place in 26:06.58) • Emma Meadors, Williamsburg (29th place in 27:02.51) • Makenzie Rice, Williamsburg (37th...

As a football player and track-and-field athlete at Whitley County High School, Kevin Simpson was always used to going fast. Whether it was trying to beat a defender into the endzone or cross the finish line before an opposing runner, speed was always the key to his success. Fast forward nearly a decade later, and the 2015 grad is still going places in a hurry as a First Officer for JetBlue Airways and a Black Hawk helicopter pilot for the Kentucky National Guard. “Flying was always my childhood dream,” Simpson said. “Growing up in Williamsburg, there weren’t many resources to accomplish becoming a pilot, so that dream dissipated and fell...

Of all the stellar performances by coverage area track and field athletes at this year’s Kentucky High School Athletic Association state championships, one stood out above the rest. Williamsburg’s Nate Goodin, who has just completed his sophomore year, was the only local competitor to secure a state title, jumping into first place in the long jump event with a distance of 21 feet, four inches. “Last year, I placed runner-up in the high jump,” Goodin said of his previous performance at the Class A state meet. “I didn’t do long jump then, but this year I was asked to try it out. I had been consistently jumping 20-21 feet, somewhere...

Last week, athletes from all four of the News Journal’s coverage area high schools made the trip to the University of Kentucky to compete in the 2023 state track and field championships. Results from the Class A championships on Thursday, June 1, were as follows: From Williamsburg… • Lylah Mattingly, on her birthday, placed tenth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.04. She finished in sixth place in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 49.67. • Madison Peace placed seventh in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.03. She placed fourth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:01.59. She also finished fifth in the 200-meter dash with...

Most folks in Williamsburg know Alvin Sharpe as the city’s longtime Director of Tourism. Many also know him as “coach” after he spent over a decade leading the cross country and track and field programs at the University and the Cumberlands (then Cumberland College). But what about Sharpe’s early career as a coach and educator at Lakeside High School in Atlanta? Not only was he able to find success in those early days, but it has now resulted in him being able to call himself a Hall of Famer in the state of Georgia. Earlier this spring, Sharpe returned to Atlanta to accept his nomination into the Lakeside Athletics Hall of...

After recent regional track and field meets, several coverage area athletes have qualified for state competition. Those who will be making the trip to Lexington for the 2023 Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s state track and field championships are: From Williamsburg… Lylah Mattingly in the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles Madison Peace in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter dash Alana Mah in the high jump, triple jump and long jump Robel Schwarz in the 1600-meter and 800-meter run Nate Goodin in the long jump and high jump Ben Hale in the 100-meter and 400-meter dash Chase Meddles in the 400-meter dash Alex Gamble in the shot put Joseph West in the discus...

On Thursday, June 1, the Williamsburg track and field team will make their annual trip to Lexington to compete in the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s Class A state championship meet at the University of Kentucky. It will mark 50 years since a group of Yellow Jackets made the same trip in 1973, and came home with what is still the school’s only state team title. “We should have won it two years in a row,” said John Jeffries, who placed second in the quarter-mile and half-mile races for the state championship squad. “We actually had a better team my junior year, but we had some bad luck with getting...

When it comes to distance running, it is important to not get ahead of yourself and end up going faster than you’re comfortable with. If you do, then fatigue will quickly set in and you may find yourself having to drop out of a race completely. The same basic principle applies to creating art, with the artist needing to take his or her time to ensure that a drawing, painting, sculpture, etc. is done right, as opposed to just being done quickly. Williamsburg junior Ryan Fields knows all about the type of sustained effort that is required to be successful in the above-mentioned activities. As a distance runner for the Yellow...

Being a student-athlete is no easy feat. Being a successful student-athlete is even harder. Breaking records on the playing field while earning academic honors in the classroom? Well, any young man or woman who can accomplish that is truly special. For Whitley County High School junior Canaan Parsons, the hard work he has put into his athletic and academic careers are paying some pretty big dividends. Recently, he was one of several WCHS students to be inducted into the National Honor Society, a designation reserved only for high schoolers who are able to maintain at least a 4.0 GPA. As impressive as Parsons’ classroom achievements have been, he has also managed...