Three consecutive Top 2 state finishes for the boys, five straight years of placing among the Top 10 in the state for the girls, and a performance for the ages by Adrian Crawford will keep Union City track in the conversation of elite programs in the state for a while.
Led by Crawford, who won four more state titles and ended his spectacular career as one of the most decorated performers in state history with 10 total championships, the Tornado boys finished as Class A runners-up to Tyner Academy of Chattanooga on Tuesday at Tom Black Track on the University of Tennessee campus.
Only five points separated the top two squads, with the finish being a reversal of last year when UC was first and TA second. The Tornadoes were second to Memphis East in 2024.
Crawford continued to wow with a once-in-a-lifetime effort that netted the Purple and Gold 50 of their 88 total points.
He won championships in the high jump (6-8) for the third straight year and repeated as long jump champ. He also added first-ever titles in the 110 hurdles and 330 hurdles, and gave his team an additional 10 points after winning the state decathlon for the second time in as many years last week.
“He was simply unreal,” said Union City head coach Wade Maddox, who has orchestrated the Tornadoes’ surge to track prominence. “I’ve never seen anyone like him. They certainly don’t come along very often.”
Another senior, Aiden Reid, repeated as a state champion in the shot put, capping his own stellar career.
Reid’s story left a legacy as he recovered from surgery on a torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder that cost him his senior football season. He also battled through nagging pain in his other shoulder during the postseason, which will necessitate an MRI later this week.
Unfazed, he won this year’s state title in dramatic fashion – on his final throw.
“He worked so hard coming back from the injury that cost him his senior year in football,” Maddox said of Reid. “You simply don’t root against kids like Aiden Reid.”
The UC girls continued to rank among the best 1A programs in the state, finishing sixth with 37.5 total points. The Lady Tornadoes trailed champion Pearl Cohn, Tyner Academy, University High of Johnson City, Memphis Middle College, and University High of Memphis.
Senior Ca’Lae Ervin led Union City’s effort, finishing second in the triple jump, and promising sophomore Ainsley Beard was third in the 300 hurdles. Both earned automatic All-State berths as a result of Top 3 finishes.
“Ca’Lae just took up the triple jump a month and a half ago and comes out and finishes second in the state, and Ainsley hasn’t been hurdling very long and ends up third. That’s pretty good stuff,” Maddox grinned.
Kyle Price, last year’s champion, and Reid finished 2-3 in the discus to give the Twisters 14 points on the boys’ side. Tayshun Gentry was fifth in the triple jump, and Jaedyn Sims placed seventh in the pole vault.
Two Tornado relay teams – the 4X800, made up of Owen Waggoner, Andrew Beard, Woodrow McKinnis, and Rushdon Howell, was fourth – while the 4X400 quartet of Waggoner, Beard, Gentry, and Kinydee Taylor was fifth in the final event of the marathon 12-hour day.
The girls’ trio of Ku’Mya Liphford, Kimayah Sneed, and Alaja Crawford was 5-6-7 in the shot put, while Madie Theobald was sixth in the discus. Ervin finished tied for fifth in the high jump.
The 4X800 team of Beard, Theobald, Ainsley Sadler, and Blair McKinnis came in fifth, while the 4X400 unit of Theobald, Beard, Hayden Marshall, and Ervin also finished fifth. The gritty McKinnis competed just a couple of weeks after breaking her wrist in five places during a training accident – earning her special praise from her coach.
“I’m extremely proud of our kids and the way they performed today,” Maddox added. “Not to make any excuses, but they’ve been through a lot the last few days, and for them to come out here and perform the way they did – it’s humbling for me to be their coach.
“This senior class has had unprecedented success. With the boys having a state championship and two runners-up, and the girls having finished in the Top 10 every year, it doesn’t get a lot better than that.”
While the two programs will both endure significant graduation losses – including Crawford, Reid, and Ervin – the coach said expectations of he and his coaching staff (Josh Keown and Thel Taylor) would remain the same.
“We want kids, when they walk into our building, to see the success that’s come before them and understand what it takes,” Maddox concluded. “We’re going to continue to hold them to standards, and we want them to strive to get just a little bit better every time out.
“We had kids today who outperformed their seeding and ran their best times of the year. It’s hard to be disappointed in the end result when they put their best out there in the very last meet of the season.”
(story and photo: Mike Hutchens – School Communications Director)
