By CAROL STUART
For Brentwood Home Page

The Brentwood High boys track team, behind strong showings by Kevin Lazas and Steve Wade in field events, had 18 qualifying performances for next week's state championships while crushing the competition in the sectionals.

The BHS girls team also qualified in nine slots for next week's Spring Fling in Murfreesboro, with two victories by junior Kelly Bickel and two qualifying events from senior Rachel Gregory.

Ravenwood senior Joachim Debock made the state meet in three boys events and will be joined by two teammates at state.  The Ravenwood girls qualified for state in eight spots including winning the 3,200-meter relay at the TSSAA 3-AAA sectionals Wednesday and Thursday at BHS.

Wade, a junior, won the discus by nearly 35 feet with a throw of 170 feet, 7 inches. He won the shot put by almost 10 feet -- both personal bests.

"He had a day for the ages," said his father, Steve Wade, the Bruins field events coach.

In the sectionals, Wade had a toss of 58-7.75 in the shot put. Second place went to senior teammate Taylor Valien with a throw of 48-10.75.

"I was practicing on my technique mainly all week," Wade said. "I just got that one good throw in and it felt really good."

Wade's 170-7 discus far surpassed BHS classmate Lucas Patrick's second-place 135-01 as well. Ravenwood's Cameron Brown also qualified for state with a third-place throw of 133-01.

Wade said competitors were "pretty amazed" by his distances. He is favored in both events in the state and is hoping to reach the 60-foot and 175-foot marks in the Spring Fling in Murfreesboro.

"It felt good coming off my hand," he said. "I didn't really see it land. I was like spinning around trying to get balance. I'm hoping to beat the throws at state."

The younger Wade's performance moves him to eighth place in the national rankings for juniors in shot put and 30th for discus, the elder Wade said.

Wade hopes the third time really is the charm. Competing in the state both his freshman and sophomore years has taught him "to just stay calm and don't get all nervous. Just know you're one of best there and perform like you would at regular track meet."

The state track meet is Wednesday-Friday at Middle Tennessee State University, with decathlon competition on Monday and Tuesday.

Boys sectionals

Lazas, a senior, won the pole vault, long jump and 10-event decathlon and also qualified for state in the high jump. He is highly favored in the state in the decathlon and finished first in the sectionals in eight of the 10 events.

The Brentwood boys ran away in the sectionals with 173 points to second-place Hunters Lane's 63. Ravenwood was fourth with 60.5 points, a half-point behind Independence.

Lazas, scored 7,348 points in the decathlon -- almost 200 points ahead of fellow BHS senior Clay Kosack's 5,394.

Lazas, Bruin freshman Eric Hoff and Kosack placed 1-2-3 in the pole vault with heights of 14-6, 13 feet and 12-6, respectively, to all make the state meet.

Lazas also captured the long jump with a leap of 22 feet, 5 inches, winning by one-fourth of an inch. Debock of RHS qualified in third place with a jump of 20-10.5.

Lazas, an Arkansas signee, also will compete in the state in the high jump with a second-place height of 6-2, 2 inches behind the winner.
 

Brentwood senior Ford Bell qualified in two events, winning the 800-meter run in 1 minute, 56.51 seconds, and finishing second in the 1,600 meters at 4:17.08.

BHS sophomore Paul Stuart was second in the 3,200 meters in 9 minutes, 55.70 seconds, while RHS sophomore Conley Chitwood was third at 10:01.40 to make state.

James Lazas, BHS sophomore, qualified in the boys 300-meter hurdles with a second-place time of 41.45 seconds. Bruins junior Patrick Kellett made the state in the 400 meters with a fourth-place finish of 50.61.

Brentwood finished second in the 4x400 boys relay in 3:25.01 and was third in the 4x800 in 8:27.44 to qualify for state.

Ravenwood's Debock will compete in the state in two other events, running the 200 meters in 22.25 seconds as runner-up in the sectionals. RHS is sending both Debock and Tony Rowland to the boys state 100-meter dash after they finished third and fourth in 11.11 and 11.12 seconds (the top two clocked 11.10).

Girls sectionals

Brentwood's Bickel captured the 200 meters in 25.91 seconds and won the girls 400-meter run in 58.90 seconds. Halie Lemasters , RHS 10th-grader, and Holly Van Grinsven, BHS 10th-grader, qualified in the 400 in third and fourth at 59.38 and 1:00.20, respectively.

Gregory won the girls pole vault with a height of 10 feet, 6 inches -- vaulting a foot higher than second-place Danielle Dipillo of Centennial.

Gregory also took second in the 300-meter hurdles at 47.51 seconds, while RHS sophomore Maddie Lindley was fourth at 49.29.

Brentwood won the girls team competition with 91 points. Ravenwood was third with 67.50, a half-point behind second-place Whites Creek.

Brentwood sophomore Amber Sudzius (second place, 108-03) and junior Amy Nelson (third place, 108-02) qualified for state in the girls discus throw. The winning toss was 144-11.

BHS freshman Margaret Howard (5:18.60) and RHS sophomore Erika Peoples (5:24.95) finished 2-3 in the 1,600 meters behind Rachel Wooten of Franklin (5:12.33).

Brentwood won the 4x400 girls relay in 4:06.83, just one-hundreths of a second ahead of second-place Ravenwood. Both qualified for state.

Ravenwood's girls won the 4x800 meter relay in 10:04.97, beating Centennial by almost 10 seconds.

RHS sophomore Erika Peoples was runner-up in the 3,200-meter run at 11 minutes, 37 seconds to make state. Ravenwood junior Allie Arnette was third in the 800-meter run at 2:25.26.

Ravenwood's girls 4x100 meter relay qualified for the state meet with a third-place time of 50.79 seconds.