Submitted by Britney Hodge
It’s often said that lightning never strikes twice, but for the Pulaski County Cougars boys track and field team, history was made again and again at the Liberty Christmas Invitational, as school records fell, state qualifications came in pairs, and personal bests piled up across the roster.
The boys 4x200-meter relay team of Tanner Toney, Braxton Merchant, Bryant Nottingham, and Jackson Squires blazed to a time of 1:33.69, breaking the Pulaski County High School record.
(Left to right: Braxton Merchant, Bryant Nottingham, Tanner Toney, Jackson Squires, Coach Joel Burchett) Boy's 4x200m Relay***
Not to be outdone, the boys 4x400-meter relay of Silas Sweet, Tanner Linkous, Jackson Squires, and Cole Boone delivered one of the most exciting races of the meet. The quartet ran 3:26.03, placing second overall, qualifying for the state meet, and shattering the previous school record of 3:34.13, missing first place by just .02 seconds. As of now, that performance ranks the relay second in the state of Virginia.
(Left to right: Tanner Linkous, Cole Boone, Jackson Squires, Silas Sweet) Boy's 4x400-meter relay
In the 500-meter run, Cole Boone continued his standout meet with a school-record and personal-best 1:04.70, placing fourth overall. Tanner Linkous followed with a PR of 1:05.55 to earn sixth place, giving the Cougars two individual state qualifiers in the event.
Distance success continued as Josh Sechrist ran a personal best 3:07.63 in the 1000-meter.
On the girls side, Olivia King set the tone with PRs in all four of her events, running 9.78 in the 55-meter hurdles, 47.68 in the 300- meter, 1:27.24 in the 500-meter, and jumping 32 feet, 9½ inches in the triple jump.
Olivia King triple jumping.
Additional girls personal bests came from Dani Carroll in the 1600-meter, along with Carmen Ferguson, Evonnia Hayden, and Natalie Kinder in the shot put.
The meet also marked the first indoor performances for several Cougars, including Cecil Black (1600m), Alex Flores (1000m), Mason Hayes (1600m), Javontae Jackson (shot put), Hunter Johnson (long jump), Ty Stacy (55m hurdles), and Trevor Toney (55m).
When asked about the results, Sprints Coach Joel Burchett replied, "Our results speak to the quality of our practices."