Athletes of the Week for the week ending May 8th
Boys’ MS Track Athlete of the Week
Damien Harris, Madison MS
I had Elijah Olige (Beaumont MS) all lined up here, but couldn’t bring myself to take Harris off this week after what he accomplished at the Bluegrass MS Conference Championship. Olige won the 800 meters and the 110m hurdles in the same city, but Harris did something that we have never seen before in dominating the competition. He now sits atop the all-time list we have compiled at 100 meters after posting a 10.84h, but he wasn’t done there. In the 200 meters, almost a half-second faster than any MS athlete we have on record and is our #1 A-T there as well. No one is crowing Harris as the state champion, yet, but he is more than just the favorite at this point and could do some damage if he was allowed to run up with one of the HS teams in the area as well.
Boys’ MS Field Athlete of the Week
Kobe Ford, West Jessamine Middle School
Ford had a pretty good day in the sprints as well, though not as good as Damien Harris, but he was just as impressive in the field events. Ford placed 3rd in the high jump, clearing 5-2 behind a couple of 5-4 clearances from Jonathon Tye (Madison MS) and Jordan Barnett (Harrison County MS), but his long jump performance was as good as we’ve seen amongst middle school athletes this year. Ford reached 19-10 to win the horizontal title which is a new MS state leader and appears to be #5 all-time in Kentucky from our database.
Girls’ MS Track Athlete of the Week
Kelly Klump, East Oldham Middle School
Klump was in very impressive form at the Henry County Wildcat Relays on Friday night. In a very deep MS 800 race, Klump led all entrants across the line, posting a new state-leading time of 2:27.78. That takes five full seconds off of the time that Klump posted in the same event a week ago and makes her an immediate favorite in the girls 800 meters for the whole state.
Girls’ MS Field Athlete of the Week
Aaliyah Cruze, Crawford Middle School
Cruze showed huge improvement over her performance a week ago and posted a new MS state leader in the long jump. In winning the event at the Bryan Station MS Invitational, Cruze reached 16-8 to make her the best performer this year by almost a foot and a half. This is more than a four foot improvement over her performance over last week, so we’ll have to wait and see if Cruze can repeat this performance as we inch closer to the Middle School state championships.
Boys’ HS Track Athlete of the Week
Jacob Thomson, Louisville Holy Cross
How tough of a week is it when we see three new state leaders and none of them appearing in this category? What about the fact that one of them (James Quick of Trinity) posted the #9 A-T performance in our database? That is all well and good, but the #5 A-T performance at the 3200 meter distance was laid down by Thomson in an almost completely solo effort. Pushing out early to very fast splits and cross the 1600 meter mark in 4:34, Thomson cruised around the track and may have only been pressed by the horde of athletes he was lapping en route to a 9:15.37 clocking. Thomson, who stated that he’d like to perform well at the Dream Mile this week before trying the quadruple at state and making a run at qualifying for the New Balance 2-mile, has been in the shadow of an impressive group of distance talent much of the year, but definitely got the attention of everyone with this performance leading into the Dream Mile this week.
Boys’ HS Field Athlete of the Week
Tyler Bray, Lloyd Memorial
Bray was focused on holding serve at home in the high jump and was able to do so and claim the state lead in the process at the Lloyd Memorial Invitational. After reaching 6-6 and earning a 2nd place finish at the Eastern Relays last week, Bray was able to make some tweaks and set a new PR of 6-9 to take home the title. Bray would also claim the long jump title (20-7.5) and take third in the triple jump (39-6) to round out a very successful day.
Girls’ HS Track Athlete of the Week
Tates Creek 4x100 meter relay
There was a strong push for Angel Hill of Warren Central here after she took down multiple time state champion Anna Carrigan, as well as Abby Wiggins of West Jessamine, who posted a new state leader in the 100m hurdles, but the TC crew was dominant. People are fully aware of Tamyah Pipkin at Tates Creek, but they have put together some very strong relay squads with her help and this year is no different. This weekend at the Bryan Station Woodall HS Invitational, the ladies teamed up for the 6th best time on record for the 400 meter relay and crushed a loaded squad from Bryan Station en route to their 49.00 performance. Their 4x200 meter relay was almost as impressive, taking down the group from Campbell County in a scorching time of 1:44.29, which was easily good enough for a new meet record.
Girls’ HS Field Athlete of the Week
Brianna McCarthy, Beechwood
In a year of strength in the ladies throws, McCarthy now takes the state lead in the discus after her performance this weekend. At the Lloyd Memorial Invitational, McCarthy reached 119-5.5 to win the discus and better her season best by nearly 8 full feet. That is just under a foot better than Alexandra Grant’s (Fern Creek) best of 118-7. McCarthy would also win the shot put at the LIT with a throw of 34-00 a bit off of her current season best of 35-7.25.