Greenbrier girls run from pack
The Greenbrier Lady Wolfpack took top honors in the Region 3-AAAA Girls Track and Field playoff last week. Now, seven of the Pack's top finishers in region playoffs plan to race away with some state titles this week.
Members of Greenbrier girls track team will compete for state titles this week.
Photo by Donnie Fetter
Greenbrier girls won the region championship as a team, but only the top two winners from each event move on to the three-day state AAAA tournament beginning Thursday in Albany.
"In track everything is so very different," Greenbrier girls track coach Kati Smallwood said. "Just because we won the overall meet, doesn't mean the girl that won the 100 (meter dash) doesn't deserve to go to state. It should be about the best person for each event."
For the Wolfpack, that means seven girls competing in eight different events.
Renee Jones took first place in the 400 meter dash and the long jump at the region tournament. She is also part of the 400 meter relay team that won at the region meet.
Alisha Simmons placed second behind Jones in the long jump, won the triple jump and also ran in the 400 meter relay.
Tabatha Pilgrim raced to a second place finish in the 3200 meter run.
With and 8-foot pole vault, Kayla Thurmond won that event for the Lady Pack.
Tesha Thurmond threw the farthest in both the shot put and discus. She is the state's AAAA defending discus champion.
"My discus girl won state last year," Smallwood said. "Right now, there's only one person ranked higher than her, so she has a little competition there."
Joining Jones and Simmons on the 400 meter relay team is April Bennett and Melissa Butler.
"The (400 meter relay) team is looking really strong," the girls coach said. "We went back and looked at some of the things that happened at the state track meet last year when they placed sixth. We're hoping to get a little higher than that. If they can run the time they did at region we'll definitely be up there, possibly in the top three."
Lakeside's Andrea Sisson also qualified for the state tournament by winning the 1600 and 3200 meter runs. Six Thomson High School girls moved on to the state playoffs in the region tournament as well.