Track/Cross Country

All of the News Journal’s coverage area cross country teams were in action over the weekend at Cave Lake Park in Wayne County. It was the site of the 2018 regional championships, and after a long list of impressive performances many local runners now have their sights set on competing in this weekend’s KHSAA state championships. Williamsburg won the Class A Region 6 boys race at Cave Lake, meaning the entire team is headed to state. That includes Alex Coleman, Tate Fields, Elijah Harrington, Jamie Haus, Lane Hawn, Brady Jones, Donovan Marnhout, Danny Moses, Andrew Myers and Collin Taylor. Also headed to the Class A state championships as a team are Lynn...

As reported in last week’s edition of the News Journal, a total of 18 high school tennis players from the coverage area are slated to compete in this year’s KHSAA state championships in Lexington. The tournaments will kick off tomorrow (Thursday) with Corbin’s Katherine Niemeier taking on Carrie Beckman of Sacred Heart at 8:00 a.m. at the University of Kentucky’s Boone/Downing Tennis Complex. Whitley County’s Anna Grace Zehr will take on Charity Nickel from Somerset, also at 8:00 a.m. at Boone/Downing. Corbin’s Samantha Spady is scheduled to face Savannah Kruse from Bullitt East at 9:15 a.m. In the girls doubles bracket, Corbin’s Sarah Gibbs and Emily Morton will face Sarah Englert and Ashley...

Area track and field teams were in action again late last week, with Corbin, Williamsburg and Lynn Camp traveling to Harlan County to compete in this year’s SEKC championships on Friday, and the Whitley County Colonels appearing in the Heart of the Bluegrass meet in Harrodsburg on Saturday. The Williamsburg girls brought home first place from the SEKC meet, with junior Selena Mattingly securing four individual first place finishes, and teammates Danasia Buchanon and Lillie Hall finishing with two first place awards apiece. Mattingly crossed the finish line first Friday in the girls’ 400m (1:01.20), 800m (2:32.98), 1600m (5:42.04) and 3200m (12:32.79) races. Meanwhile, Buchanon dominated in the hurdles, winning the girls’...

With the New Year just days away, this week we look back at the News Journal’s biggest sports stories of 2017. 1. The Corbin Redhounds’ run to the Class 3A state football championship: Undoubtedly, the biggest sports story of the year was Corbin football’s 13-2 season that included the program’s first appearance in a state championship game since 2002. The football Hounds featured a talented cast of both seasoned veterans and young up-and-comers in 2017. The combination was enough to get the team over the hump, defeating Louisville Central in the state semifinals after losing to Belfry in week 14 of both the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Corbin came up against a...

The Mattingly dynasty continues at Williamsburg. After placing third at the KHSAA Class A state championship cross country meet as a middle schooler, Lady Jacket runner Selena Mattingly captured her first state title as a freshman in 2015. She returned to the state meet as a sophomore last fall, this time coming away with a still-respectable fifth place finish. Coming into this year’s state meet, Mattingly and her coaches were hopeful for at least a third place performance. She did better than that, however, beating her nearest opponent (Kailee Perry of Morgan County) by 16 seconds to once again become Class A state champion with a final time of 19:28.72. “I was...

This past Saturday, area cross country teams traveled to Monticello to take part in region competition. In Class A Region 6, both the Williamsburg High School boys and girls teams were able to capture runner-up honors. In addition to that, junior Selena Mattingly once again became region champion when she finished the varsity girls race with a time of 20:38.06. Teammate Abigail Schwarz finished third in the girls race with a time of 22:17. 51. Mattingly, Schwarz and the rest of the Yellow Jacket runners will now compete in this Saturday’s Class A state championship meets at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Start time for the girls race is scheduled...

Corbin cross country is a program on the rise. Although competitive over the last several years with many state qualifiers and strong region performances, they have yet to assert themselves as a consistent force at the region and state level. All that looks to change this year, and into the next few years, with the influx and insurgence of talent, and the development of many young athletes. Head Coach Tyler Harris and Assistant Coach Jonathan Goodin have been working hard to create tradition and pride around their program, but creating a winning program takes time, because a culture has to be established where there never has been one before. “The program is...

When Williamsburg sophomore Selena Mattingly entered into the spring 2017 season, she carried with her a lot of heavy expectations. After becoming a state champion in both the 800-meter and 1600-meter runs in 2016, all eyes were on her to once again accomplish big things on the track this year. The road has not been easy for Mattingly these past few months, but by the time region competition rolled around two weeks ago she looked ready to defend her crowns, qualifying for state with region championship victories in the 1600, 400, 800 and 3200-meter races. This dominating performance gave her plenty of momentum heading into this past Saturday’s KHSAA Class...

The following is a complete list of the athletes from Williamsburg High School that have qualified to compete in the 2017 1A state championship track and field meet in Lexington this Saturday, May 20… Girls 4x800M relay team of Natalia Munoz, Madison Combs, Abigail Schwarz and Jamie Moses (Region runner-up, 11:54.10) Boys 4x800M relay team of James Brown, Garrett Combs, Tate Fields and Brady Jones (Region champions, 9:14.51) Girls 100M hurdlers Danasia Buchanon (Region runner-up, 16.79) and Macy Damron (Region third place, 18.15) Boys 110M hurdler Hagen Hawn (Region champion, 16.51) Boys 100M sprinter Kyle Davis (Region runner-up, 11.92) Girls 4x200M relay team of Fhazaneh Jackson, Danasia Buchanon, Macy Damron and Makayla Mack (Region champions,...

Last week, local track and field coaches discussed their expectations for their boys teams in the upcoming spring season. This week, we take a look at what can be expected on the girls’ side of things. We begin with Whitley County Head Coach David Lennon… On relays: “Our relays will be okay. We had a lot of girls out last year that were running for the first time, so they really didn’t have the experience that they needed. We were getting better at the end of the season, though, so I think that we’ll continue to see a lot of improvement.” “We’ll have a lot of those girls back who were motivated to...