County boys have seven medal wins

MURFREESBORO – Distance runners provided Rutherford County's small allotment of medal winners Friday night at Dean A. Hayes Stadium in the TSSAA boys track and field state championships.

County runners combined to place in seven running events. All but two came in a distance event.

Central Magnet's 4x800-meter relay team, which has won and placed second over the past two years, finished fifth in 8:28.57 in the Class A/AA meet for its third straight medal in the event.

"As a senior, it was great to just finally run in the state meet," said Central Magnet's Kyle Maples, who was joined in the relay by Ben Waldecker, Luke Adams and Nathan Delk. "I've been running for seven years. To finally get to state in my senior year is an amazing feeling.

"Wherever we placed at state doesn't matter. We made it here."

Central Magnet had two others finish on the medal stand.

Waldecker, a junior, finished sixth in the 300 hurdles in 42.81. Waldecker also placed fourth on Tuesday in the Class A/AA decathlon.

"I've had a big week," Waldecker said. "(After the decathlon) I just did some slow, easy miles to warm down my legs. I think it worked. I felt good out there (Friday)."

Central Magnet freshman Jordan Shirley placed sixth in the 3,200 in (10:07.63). Shirley led the opening laps, racing to beat former standout Andre Hillsman's top freshman time of 10:05.

"I just went out there and ran," Shirley said. "I wanted to get about fourth, but I had a time I wanted to hit. I was close, but I didn't hit it.

"I was just two seconds off."

Oakland picked up three running medals.

Oakland senior Chris Stokes, a Memphis signee, placed fifth in the 100 in 10.94 seconds. His finish was up a spot from a year ago despite running .02 hundredth of a second slower.

Stokes' finish came despite running out of the slow heat.

"I just came in here wanting to improve in general," Stokes said. "My mindset was to either win (my heat) or at least finish second."

Oakland senior Eli Leskinen, a Brown signee, finished seventh in the 3,200 in 9:41.13.

Leskinen was also on the Patriots' 4x800 relay team that placed seventh in 8:00.69. Leskinen was joined by Jordan Hill, Daniel Smith and Nathan Mack in the race.

"It means a lot to us," Smith said. "We've definitely worked hard all year for this. It's been good."

La Vergne senior Leonel Perez, a UT-Martin signee, placed sixth in the 1,600-meter run, finishing in 4:22.50.

Perez's finish came after starting the final lap in ninth place.

"I'm a good kicker. I was confident in my kick.

"In this field, I knew I was one of the runners with the best foot speed. I knew I had it in the last lap."

Contact Tom Kreager at 615-278-5168 or tkreager@dnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kreager.