Union City High School claimed four gold medals during Tuesday’s TSSAA State Track and Field meet in Murfreesboro.
School Communications Director Mike Hutchens said Union City will compete for the state team title for boys, which was halted on Tuesday due to storms.
Adrian Crawford won gold medals in the high jump and long jump, with Aiden Reid claiming gold in shot put.
Kyle Price added to the championships for Union City by winning in the discuss competition.
Union City’s Woodrow McKinnis placed second in the 1600 meter run, with Debrionna Jones placing second in shot put and third in discus.
Union City will take a 33-point lead into today’s competition, 85 points ahead of Tyner Academy of Chattanooga. Both schools have entries in three events, with the Tornadoes putting Rodney Jenkins in the 200, Woodrow McKinnis in the 3200-meter run, and D.J. Evans in the 300-meter hurdles.
Union City tacked on to its point total with strong finishes by McKinnis (second in the 1600), Crawford (third in the triple jump), Tayshun Gentry (fifth in the triple jump), and the 4X200 relay team that placed third. That unit was made up of Shontorius Fuller, Jenkins, Gentry, and Crawford.
The Union City girls’ team, which is seeking its fourth consecutive Top 10 finish, stood in a tie for third when the competition was halted on Tuesday.
The Lady Tornadoes had scored 36 points, trailing only Memphis East (67) and Liberty Creek (61).
Led by state meet veterans Debrionna Jones and Katana Bonds, Union City scored most of its points in Tuesday’s field events.
Bonds, who qualified for state-level competition in all four of her high school seasons, was fifth in both the long jump and the triple jump, and was part of a 4X100 relay team along with Ca’Lae Ervin, Indeya Hogsett, and Chloe Hubbard, that finished fourth.
The Twister girls also got points from their 4X800 relay team (Ainsley Sadler, Ainsley Beard, Jayla Turner, and Madie Theobald) that came in fourth, and Allysia Davis, who was fifth in the shot put.
Head coach Wade Maddox, who has impressively built the two Purple and Gold programs into state contenders, is a firm believer in his teams’ chances of bringing home first-place hardware today after leading the Tornado boys to a runner-up finish last year and the Union City girls to recent contender status.
“We had a really good day on Tuesday. The kids who we expected to do well did well, and we had some others who outdid their seed coming in,” the coach insisted. “I thought we did a fantastic job of keeping our focus with all that was going on around us, with the weather and the delays. We didn’t let that get into our heads and become distractions.
“I challenged our people to come out and do their best, and, as a group, we did that. Hopefully, we can finish it off tomorrow and get that gold hardware.”
Union City will have just one entry in the girls’ field today, with the 4X400 relay team of Beard, Hubbard, Turner, and Ervin competing in the final event of the meet.
(photos: Mike Hutchens – School Communications Director)
