CSAS senior Lennex Walker looks to put her name in state track records

Arts & Sciences senior Lennex Walker, shown clearing the bar during her 300-meter hurdles victory at the Optimist meet this spring, will try to win state titles in track and field this week. She is the top qualifier for today's pentathlon and for four individual events later this week at the state meet: long jump, triple jump, 100-meter hurdles and 300 hurdles.
Arts & Sciences senior Lennex Walker, shown clearing the bar during her 300-meter hurdles victory at the Optimist meet this spring, will try to win state titles in track and field this week. She is the top qualifier for today's pentathlon and for four individual events later this week at the state meet: long jump, triple jump, 100-meter hurdles and 300 hurdles.

While other members of the Class of 2017 spend this week traveling for graduation parties, vacationing or beginning summer jobs, Lennex Walker will attempt something that has been accomplished only once before in TSSAA track and field history.

The gifted Arts & Sciences athlete is the top qualifier in today's state pentathlon as well as four individual events at the state meet later this week in Murfreesboro. Only former GPS star Tori Kemp has swept five track and field state championships in the same season, accomplishing that extraordinary feat five years ago.

"That motivates me even more to know that I'm trying to do something that not many people have been able to do," said Walker, who has signed with Austin Peay. "It would be a very rewarding way to end my high school career."

Besides Walker, Signal Mountain's Emma Johnson and Chattanooga Christian's Laura Beth Turner earned at-large berths in the A/AA pentathlon, while GPS's Emily Morrison qualified in Division II and Soddy-Daisy's Kelsey Henderson will compete in Class AAA.

The boys' decathlon begins today with five events and will conclude Tuesday, when the five-sport Spring Fling begins in full. McCallie junior Hakim McMorris was the top decathlon qualifier in Division II, well ahead of Daniel Tell of Briarcrest. McCallie's Adams Robinson and Aaron Bastain also qualified, while Walker Valley's Bryce Nunnelly and Zeke Westfield will compete in the AAA decathlon, along with Cleveland sophomore Eric Parker.

Aside from being the favorite in today's pentathlon - made up of the 100-meter hurdles, shot put, long jump, high jump and 800-meter run - after having scored nearly 500 more points than second-place qualifier Stephanie Wisse of Unicoi County, Walker is also the top qualifier in Thursday's long jump, triple jump, 100-meter hurdles and 300 hurdles.

Provided she's able to complete each of those events, Walker will have competed in 18 events in just more than a week, which assures she will likely spend the following days resting.

"That speaks to how mentally tough she is," said Donnelle Dunning, who has worked as her sprint and hurdles coach for nearly five years and also coaches the Chattanooga Jets, Walker's AAU team. "That is a grueling few days she's about to go through. LaQuisha Jackson was too dehydrated to run the 200 meters her junior year because she tried the pentathlon and then came back for her sprints and had exerted too much of herself.

"What separates Lennex is her ability to focus and lock in on whatever she's competing in at that moment. She's been so dominant in our area that she would tend to shut down, and I'd remind her that she's running against the clock, not other local runners. That was so she would push herself and be ready to be at her best for this week."

Also an all-district basketball player, Walker admitted recently that she was just beginning to round into shape for a track and field season that most of her competitors had spent months training for.

"It's amazing how she'll come from basketball and not only catch back up with but pass girls who've been out there training all year," added Dunning, a former All-America sprinter at the University of Tennessee. "She's only just now getting her track legs under her, so it should be exciting to see what she does this week.

"As a coach, when you tell her something she never has to come back and ask you to go over it again. She just picks it up and transfers what you say onto the track. Now that she can dedicate herself solely to track, her potential is so great that I believe she can become one of the top eight 100-meter hurdlers in the country."

This will be the second straight year that Walker will follow the pentathlon by competing in four more events. At last year's Spring Fling, after finishing second in the pentathlon, she won state championships in the 100 hurdles and the triple jump, finished second in the long jump and was fourth in the 200.

"I know how tough it is on my body, so I've spent most of my free time just resting at home," Walker said. "I didn't really go out or even train much at all for about the last week. The meets I ran in this season, I made sure to compete in as many events at one time as I could just to prepare, then lately I mostly just slept or laid in my bed watching Youtube videos so I was rested and ready to go.

"I like the challenge of doing so many different events. I probably would've gotten bored with just one event or one sport. I'm looking forward to the challenge. This week is very exciting for me."

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.

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