Whiteoak track off to a great postseason start

This past Wednesday and Friday, the Whiteoak track teams competed in the Southeast District Division III Track Meet at Oak Hill High School, where several athletes advanced to regionals.

The boys 4x800 relay team took home a third-place finish to advance to the regionals for the fifth consecutive year. Relay members were Keegan Eyre, Tre Lamb, Shane Mitchell-Cox and Landen Eyre.

Landen Eyre put himself on full display to get the district finals crowd rolling. Eyre toed the line with a few of the top 1600 runners in the state and took home his fourth consecutive district title in the mile race. Eyre clocked a 4:19.77 for a season's best team.

Coach Doug Hughes broke down the race.

“Landen just keeps getting smarter and smarter in his races, and he ran a perfect race to hold off the very tough competition,” Hughes said. “The two competitors behind him had better mile times on the season, but Landen came out on top with his strategic execution of the race."

Eyre wasn't done there because the 3200 wasn't far after, and Eyre never left much doubt in this race as he circled the track eight times in 9:24.54.

Just minutes after finishing the 3200, he joined his 4x400 teammates of Tre Lamb, Shane Mitchell-Cox and Austin Richards to close out the district meet with a bang. Whiteoak 4x400 finished third to qualify for the regionals.

Hughes detailed the race.

“This race was going to be tough, and we knew we'd just miss advancing or just barely sneak in,” Hughes said. Tre Lamb just finished runner-up in his 300 hurdle race but ran a great first leg to get us into contention. Shane Mitchell-Cox just finished a fifth-place finish in the 800 meter but found a way to pull us even closer. Senior Austin Richards ran a tremendous leg three of the race and got the baton to Eyre just inside the top four position, but Eyre just finished running the two-mile and jumped off the podium for this race.

“I’ll be honest the 400 isn't his star-studded event, and he doesn't have great 400 speed. I wasn't sure if he was going to bring it in and be able to hold off the anchor runners from two other teams. Landen, however, had already put on a couple of shows, and he did it one more time as he somehow sprinted the last 100 like I've never seen him before, and they took third place at 3:42.01.

“Those four have run this race all year, and they had their best time by over four seconds,” Hughes continued. “I believe this is the first Whiteoak 4x400 relay team to qualify for regionals in nearly 40 years. Four kids stepped up big time, and I could not have been happier."

The boys 4x200, also with a great run, took fourth place to earn their berth to the next round of the postseason. Whiteoak was seeded sixth going into the finals.

Hughes elaborated on the team.

“On Wednesday, we ran our typical four runners of Shawn Mitchell-Cox, Levi Flader, Austin Richards and Tyler Wessner, and they ran their best race of the year, clocking a 1:41.33, and they snuck into the finals. To advance, we need to shave off a few seconds as the teams ahead often add in their sprinters for the finals. We decided to go for it with two other members on our relay card for the finals, and Tre Lamb and Shane Mitchell-Cox helped Richerds and Wessner to run a 1:38.05 and steal that #4 spot to the regionals. All six relay members were pivotal in getting the job done."

Sophomore Tre Lamb kept his big day going with a second-place finish in the 300 hurdles with a time of 43.14 to again lower his school record. Lamb qualified for regionals in four events.

The girls 4x800 team got the running started by securing a fifth-place finish. The team consisted of Aubrey Swafford, Sofia Juarex, Andreanna Green and Sophia Gatewood.

“It was fun to watch the girls finish and get to the podium,” Hughes said. “There were 21 schools in our district, but the 800-meter is a grueling race, and many schools have trouble getting a team together. This is only our second meet with them running this event, and all four did a great job."

Also scoring podium berths for the Wildcats were Shane Mitchell-Cox in the 800 in fifth place (2:06.96); Matalynn Conrad in the discus (105-05); Keegan Eyre, sixth place in the 1600 (4:50.45); and Kaiden Wells, seventh place in the shot put (38-09).

The girls 4x400 team of Mataluynn Conrad, Sofia Juarez, Grace Raines and Trulie Lamb scored their top time on the year as well.

Whiteoak will compete this Wednesday and Friday in the Division III Regional at Heath High School.