NASHVILLE — Star City girls track and field coach Becky Brown knew her team had one chance at coming home with an individual state title.
Octavian Reedy held up her end of the bargain and won the 400-meter dash, but Star City got another first-place finish from the 4×800-meter relay team.
The relay team — which included juniors Reedy, Alexis Bullard, Abby Walker and Kindra Redix — finished with a time of 10 minutes, 40.18 seconds. That is an improvement of 1 minute from when the team ran it when the season began.
“They knocked off quite a bit of time,” Brown said. “I didn’t know what ot expect going into it. I wasn’t sure what affect the bus ride would have on them, but all four girls ran very well.”
The relay team also had some luck on its side as the team dropped the baton during the event.
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“It stayed in our lane and it stayed there for a couple of seconds,” Brown said. “So our time could’ve been better.”
The team won the relay by more than 4 seconds. Nashville finished in second place in 10:44.85.
Reedy won the 400 in a time of 60.21 seconds, which was not her best time of the season.
“She actually has ran a 58 at one time, so she can do better than that,” Brown said. “She is just a great athlete and has unlimited potential. I am so proud of all of them an all of them have worked so hard during the track season.”
Reedy and the 4×800 relay team will run in the Meet of Champions on May 12 in Lake Hamilton.
The Star City boys finished in sixth place with 37 points, which is the best place Star City coach John Welch can remember.
“This is the highest we have finished in a long time,” he said. “Probably about for the last 20 years.”
Quinterrion West led the Bulldogs with a second-place finish in the 100-meter dash in a time of 11.08 seconds. Lavonta Gardner claimed third place in the long jump with a distance of 21 feet, 5.5 inches. The top jump was 21-8.
The Star City boys 4×100-meter relay team came in third place in 44.57.
Dollarway’s Josh Liddell finished in third place in the triple jump with a distance of 43-1.5, just 3.5 inches away from first place.