It will be a busy couple of days for Capital City.
Kiara Strayhorn will be the busiest of all.
Last year’s two-time state champion will try to defend her Class 5 titles in the long jump and 100-meter hurdles and will try to take the top spot in the high jump and 4x100-meter relay as well today during state track and field championships at Adkins Stadium.
Strayhorn will start her day trying to defend her title in the long jump at 10 a.m.
Last year Strayhorn leaped 19 feet, 10.5 inches to take the state title, this year, Strayhorn enters with a jump of 18-1.75 in the sectional meet, placing her as the fifth seed.
“In the long jump, there’s five or six 19-footers,” Capital City coach Scott Gschwender said. “I haven’t seen a long jump field as strong as it is this year.”
Strayhorn will then run the 100-meter hurdles prelims at 11:35 a.m., entering as the third seed with a sectional time of 14.43 seconds after running a time of 13.99 for the championship last season.
“I will say with the 100-meter hurdles, I have not seen a field as strong as it is this year,” Gschwender said. “It’s as strong as you can get.”
Strayhorn will move to the high jump at 12:30 p.m., where she cleared 5-7 for the top seed. Strayhorn cleared 5-7.75 to place second at last year’s state meet.
“There’s multiple girls that can high jump 5-7 this year,” Gschwender said. “The playing fields that she’s got are very, very strong. But any time the pressure is on, she’s always come through for us.”
Finally, Strayhorn will anchor the 4x100 meter relay alongside Ashley York, Kalie Strayhorn and Tyrica Sterrett at 2:10 p.m. The group enters as the fifth seed with a sectional time of 49.06 seconds.
It will be the second of three events for Sterrett, who starts her day in the 100-meter dash at 12:15 p.m.
The freshman will run in the 200-meter dash to finish her day at 4:50 p.m.
Multiple Cavaliers will have busy days as well, starting at the beginning of the track events at 10:30 a.m. with the 4x800-meter relay team of Sincere Davis, Brock Schofield, Keion Grieve and Parker Noble, who enter as the top seeded crew after running a sectional time of 7:58.43.
“There are some teams that did not put their best guys in the 4x800,” Gschwender said. “We know what Rock Bridge is capable of, we know what some of these other teams are capable of, but to watch these guys (get a personal record) by seven, eight seconds, … I think they can shave a couple of more seconds off.”
Grieve will bookend the day with the 4x400-meter relay at 5:45 p.m. alongside Connor Hull, Cameron Harrison and TJ Dyer, who enter as the fourth seeded team with a sectional time of 3:23.49.
Grieve will also run in the 800-meter run at 2:40 p.m. Saturday, entering with a time of 1:53.73, the fastest recorded in Class 5 this year by MileSplit.
“He’s had some 1:51 splits in the 4x800, so we know he’s capable,” Gschwender said. “A lot of his best times in the 800, he’s sitting with the guy in front and then he goes ahead to finish at the end. … It’s exciting to see him run, he’s a dominant athlete.”
Harrison, Hull and Dyer will start their state experience with the 4x200-meter relay at 12:30 p.m. today, with Emmanuel Borde-Koufie anchoring.
Hull will also run in the 400-meter dash at 2:30 p.m., entering as the sixth seed with a sectional time of 50.10, while Dyer will compete in the 300-meter hurdles at 3:15 p.m., coming in with the second-best time of 39.43.
“With Connor, I would really like to see him get to the finals, he wants to go sub-50, which he has in some splits, but it’s official when you do it in the open,” Gschwender said. “TJ, he’s ranked top-3, but there’s a bunch of 39s right there, so it could go either way. He could win it or he could turn around and get sixth. You just don’t know when all those times are right there.”
Harrison will compete in the 200-meter dash at 4:30 p.m.
Capital City will start today with the throws as both Matthew Boyer and Sam Albert compete in the discus at 9:30 a.m.
Boyer will add on the javelin at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, coming in as the fifth seed with a sectional throw of 175-7, while Albert will compete in the shot put at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, where he enters as the fourth seed with a heave of 55-2.
“Sam Albert and Matthew Boyer, our throws have been our strength this whole year on the boys side,” Gschwender said.
Shayla Stewart will take on the shot put for the Lady Cavaliers at 1 p.m. today and the discus at 9 a.m. Saturday, while Anastasia Koopman will tackle the pole vault at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Kennedy Schanuth will throw the javelin at 4 p.m. today, entering as the fourth seed with a sectional throw of 131-7.5.
“Shayla Stewart has a good chance of scoring the discus and Kennedy Schanuth has a good chance of scoring in the javelin,” Gschwender said.
Gschwender said the amount of success Capital City has had this year has lived up to the high expectations he had coming into the season.
“Girl-wise, we were pretty successful with what we had to start,” Gschwender said. “We had some pretty high-caliber athletes. We actually were faster, we broke a lot of records with our girls team. … On our guys team, having three grades, they struggled a bit last year. But they really bought in and trained and they understand what it takes. I was happy to see their success and I’m proud of their success this year.”