Another strong state meet is in the books for Panther track and field.
On Feb. 15, the team traveled to Winston-Salem for the 3A State Championships, locking horns with elite opponents from across the state. With a 5th-place finish from the girls and top performances from several individuals, Franklin brought their winter season to an end.
“According to my projections the girls were ranked fifth going in, and we took fifth place,” said head coach Matt Harlfinger. “We did what we were supposed to do, and we actually scored a few more points than I’d projected, so I’m pretty pleased with where we finished there.”
With 32 points overall, Franklin’s girls continued an incredible streak, turning in their fifth straight top-five state meet finish. Led by 13 points from their relay teams, several Panthers made trips to the podium.
“Our girls [4x200-meter relay] team finished fourth and ran a season-best time at that state meet, and on that relay were Michelle Ortega, Kai Pelletier, Anna Timan and Laura Covarrubias,” said Harlfinger. “The girls four-by-four team finished third, and that was with Laura, Anna, Michelle and Amy Mendoza Lopez. ... Our four-by-eight team [Mendoza Lopez, Morgan Cress, Abigail Pope and Breanna Pendergrass]ran a season-best time by 10 seconds, and we finished seventh overall. We scored some points, and the girls ran the second-fastest time in school history.”
With only the top eight finishers scoring in each event, points are always at a premium in the state meet, with only the deepest teams scoring in all three relays. In individual events, several other Panthers also impressed.
“Izzy Shope and Justus Bradford have been jumping really well late in the year, and we were able to get both of them on the podium in a third-place tie,” said Harlfinger. “Charley Seagle finished sixth in the shot put; she had a big third throw to earn herself a spot in the finals. I was really proud of how she dealt with that adversity because her first two throws weren’t great, and she was outside of qualifying for the finals.”
“Laura ran a season-best time in the 55 hurdles, and she finished fifth place overall in a really stacked field. ... She picked up season-best marks in the 55 hurdles and the long jump, and she was was on those four-by-two and four-by-four teams, so it was a great day out of her. ... Amy Mendoza Lopez ran the second-fastest time in school history in the 1,000-meter run, and she barely missed the cutoff for the fast heat. ... Morgan Cress ran a season-best time in the 1,600, and also ran the second-fastest time in school history. Morgan and Amy ran some incredible legs on the [4x800-meter relay], so I’m really proud of how they did there.”
Between jumps, throws, hurdles, sprints and distance-running events, Franklin’s girls impressed across the track. On the men’s side, several Panthers also turned in top finishes.
“On the boys side, we just didn’t qualify enough boys this year to really make a run at a top-five finish, and so our goal going in – and this was on both sides; we talked about it before we walked in the building – we knew that we were kind of a dark horse going in, and the goal was just to see how many medals we could come home with,” said Harlfinger. “Matheson Post had qualified for the 1,000 and Ken Modlin had qualified for the 300, but we decided to scratch them from those races because they both run on the four-by-four team. ... The top four make the podium, and unfortunately we finished fifth. ... Our boys on that four-by-four team were Ken Modlin, David Rogers, Zach Call and Matheson Post.”
“The boys four-by-two hundred team finished eighth, and that’s the first time in school history that we’ve scored at least one point at the state meet for the indoor season on the four-by-two, so I was real proud of that. It was a bit of a stretch because we went in ranked ninth, but we were able to beat a team that was ranked ahead of us, so the boys handled that really well. ... That was Tyler Koch, Zach Call, Ken Modlin and David Rogers. ... Cade Bell also competed in the shot put, and finished 19th. He was actually the number one thrower in the shot put from the Mountain Seven Conference.”
Having lost several frontline boys from last year’s state runner-up indoor squad, Franklin simply didn’t have the horses to compete for a state title, finishing 27th overall with 6.5 points. With plenty of young talent waiting in the wings however, Harlfinger said the team is not far away.
“On the boys side we’re really young, and I’ve said a couple times this year that the future on the boys side is very promising,” he said. “Right now we’re kind of going through a rebuild year where we lost a lot of talent from last year, and we reloaded it with freshmen and sophomores. The feeling that I get is that it’s a lot like the 2022 season when Elijah Cochran was a sophomore. I could see Ken Modlin two years from now doing some things Elijah did.”
“We’ve got two sophomore boy throwers in Wesley Maxson and Brady Norman that I know are gonna be very good; they’re just a growth spurt away. ... We’ve got some other young guys, too – Cam Lyons, Conner Ramey and Reid Laseter, just to name a few ... so we’ve got some younger guys there that we’re really excited about that can do some big things down the road.”