It’s safe to say that Adrian Crawford can do a little bit of everything when it comes to track and field.
And he does it all very well.
School Communications Director Mike Hutchens said the Union City sophomore put on quite the show to win the decathlon state qualifier over two days at Lakeland Preparatory School.
Crawford beat his closest competitor by more than 500 points to earn a spot in the state field with 11 other athletes from across Tennessee.
The state competition will be held May 15-16 in Murfreesboro, with five events on the docket each day.
The multi-talented Crawford did not finish lower than third in any of the nine events in which he competed during the competition. He won three (high jump, triple jump, and 400-meter run), placed second in four more competitions (110-meter hurdles, long jump, shot put, and 1500-meter run), and was third in the 100 meters and the discus to easily outdistance the 12-man field.
Amazingly, he piled up his impressive point total despite not getting any in the pole vault, as many athletes do not have the facilities or equipment to train for the event and thus didn’t compete in it.
In the end, it didn’t matter.
“He’s the most naturally gifted athlete I’ve seen in a long time,” head coach Wade Maddox said of Crawford, who also plays football, basketball, and soccer for the Purple and Gold. “He does so many things well and does them well without a lot of repetition.”
Adrian entered Day 2 of the competition Wednesday with 2,369 points – 82 behind leader Jacob Jones of MASE. Jones ultimately finished as runner-up with 4,791 points.
Crawford set a program record by leaping 6’9” in his winning high jump effort. He threw the shot put 34’3” and was marked at 20’3.75” in the long jump. His times in the 110 hurdles and the 1500 were 17.91 and 5:36.99, respectively.
Maddox marveled not only in Crawford’s multiple impressive feats, but also that those were recorded despite no specific training for many of them.
“We really didn’t train for the decathlon,” the Tornado coach claimed. “This is our first year as a program to participate in it, and it speaks even more highly of his ability to step into different events and shine.
“I truly believe the sky’s the limit for him.”
Crawford will look to match the feat of Union City track legend Tom Jernigan, who won the state decathlon in 1964.
