Kaleigh King, Megan Kelley, Audrina Martin and Sunni Altheimer didn’t realize until several minutes later that they had just clinched another team championships for Quitman.
The Lady Wolverines held a seven-point lead on Bell City entering the final 4×400-meter relay last Thursday.
And though the Lady Bruins (4:22.43) ran a lights-out race more than 17 seconds better than their qualifying time to win the event, Quitman just needed a top-four finish to guarantee the Class B girls’ state championship to complete their school’s sweep after their teammates had positioned themselves for victory in the boys’ standings.
King, Kelley, Martin and Altheimer (4:27.00) came within a second of their qualifying time to hold off Converse, Anacoco and others down the stretch for silver in the event and gold in the meet by a 70-65 — but didn’t realize until a post-race interview they had officially tied that bow on the victory.
They began hopping and cheering as the joy collectively hit them before King composed the group, “Stop, stop, we can’t spoil it for everybody else,” as the Wolverines awaited the official public-address announcement.
“This 4×400, honestly I was just thinking we had to go out there and just haul butt,” an out-of-breath King said as her teammates smiled. “We knew it was gonna be a tough race, and we ran against most of these girls before, so we knew it was gonna be tough competition. We knew how good they are and we just had to go out there and be the best we could be.”
The emotions of the moment particularly continued to hit Kelley, the lone senior of the bunch, as she reflected on the final accomplishment of her high school career with her teammates.
“I’m just so proud of us. I’m so, so proud of us,” she said already beginning to fight off tears. “These girls have literally pushed me through everything. They’ve been by my side through cross country, track, everything for the last four years. And it’s just I’m sad to be leaving them, but it’s very, very exciting to end on this note. And I just love them all with my whole heart.”
King, the junior, helped highlight the team scoring with wins in the 300-meter hurdles (49.85 seconds) and pole vault (8-05.50), second in the 100-meter hurdles (17.00 seconds) and the lead-off of the final relay.
Junior Taylor Borland took third in the 100-meter hurdles (17.53 seconds) and fourth in the pole vault (7-05.75).
Kelley was fifth in the 800-meter (2:39.95) and sixth in the 1600-meter (5:46.72), and fellow senior Kaleigh Webb added fourth in the discus (88-10) to round out the points in the individual events.
And second-place finishes in the 4×100- and 4×400-meter relays and third in the 4×200-meter — races that featured a combined eight different Lady Wolverines — proved crucial in securing the title.
“I’ve been there for three years and just the heart that they have for this program, it’s just amazing,” coach Cindy Pardue said, herself choking back some emotions as she reflected on the athletes’ accomplishments. “We have such support from out community, and we just cannot believe it. It is just unbelievable we’ve taken home the boys’ and the girls’ title. It’s awesome.”
Gage Horton earned Outstanding Performer honors on the boys’ side to help a gritty Quitman stretch out to 103 points and hold off Caster (77), Anacoco (70) and company down the stretch.
The senior won the 400-meter (52.38 seconds) and 1600-meter (4:40.69), finished second in the 800-meter (2:08.30) and ran second leg of the winning 4×400-meter relay (3:34.68) to earn the superlative recognition.
“It’s unreal, to be honest with you,” he smiled. “It means a lot. Almost everything. I’ve only dreamed about this, to be honest… There’s so many great athletes out here, I really didn’t think that I was gonna get it. I was talking about this for weeks now. My teammate, Nathan Harvey, got named it last year. And I was like, ‘Man, I would love to get that.’ And just by miracle, somehow.”
Harvey, another senior star, finished second in the 110-meter hurdles (16.25 seconds), then managed to secure the 300-meter victory (42.68 seconds) even despite hitting the last two hurdles and the track and ran legs of the winning 4×200- and 4×400-meter relays.
“I was predicted to win and everything, so I was confident coming out,” he said of the 300-meter hurdles. “And I come out, and I hit about the second-to-last hurdle, do a little barrel-roll, get back up, hit the last hurdle and just keep going. You’ve just got to keep pushing through, really… That’s the only thing in my mind is just making sure I don’t see ’em pass me.”
Senior Asher Shultz won the javelin (173-00), freshman Elijah Jackson took second in the shot put (41-10.00) and seniors Brayden Smith and Jayden Harts bronzed in the 200-meter dash (23.72 seconds) and long jump (20-02.50), respectively.
Fourth place in the 800-meter by freshman Luke Sims (2:13.49), fifth in the 3200-meter by eighth-grader Josiah Ramsey (11:37.60) and sixth in the 100-meter by Smith (11.64 seconds) all added to the team total.
“For the last three or four years, they’ve said over and over again we’re made history, and honestly that’s what they’re doing,” Pardue said. “This year I had 12 seniors, so in track there’s not gonna be another year like this for a long time, and they’re gonna be remembered for a very long time. People are gonna look up to ’em, and they’re gonna have stories to tell for the rest of their life.”
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