Panther track and field continues to round into midseason form.
After a busy week of March 11, sending the bulk of their team to Montreat College and a few to the Adidas Indoor Nationals, on March 20 the Panthers competed much closer to home. In a seven-team meet at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School, several Panthers turned in impressive results.
“For us, through these first couple meets, we’re still kind of feeling out these new kids and seeing, ‘What do we have, what can we do, what can we accomplish down the road?’” said head coach Matt Harlfinger of the spring outdoor season. “Our goals for the outdoor season are different, and the day before every meet I tell the kids, ‘I don’t even care if we win the track meet tomorrow. We’re not going there to win, we’re going there to try to improve and get better as individuals and as a team.’ So, we were able to sneak out of there with a lot of season-best marks, and a lot of career personal records.”
Unlike the indoor season, wherein athletes can qualify for the state meet throughout the winter, outdoor track’s meets are geared more towards preparing for the end of the year. Since Franklin can’t qualify for state until the 3A West Regional May 11, regular-season meets afford coaches the chance to experiment.
“One of the things that we wanted to do, or at least make an attempt at, was we wanted to try to break the school records in the boys and girls [4x400-meter relay],” said Harlfinger. “This is an event that we don’t traditionally get an opportunity to compete in fresh, because it’s the last event and your four fastest 400 runners have probably run the open 400, or maybe the 200 or the 300 hurdles. And so almost every time you get into that last event – and it’s not just our team, but every team – you get heavy legs, and it’s a ‘survival-of-the-fittest-type’ situation. So, we went into the meet yesterday and said, ‘We’re gonna run this as fresh as possible.’”
With many fast sprinters on the roster, Franklin has deployed a variety of 4x400 lineups, allowing their best 400 runners to compete in other events. With mostly smaller teams in attendance at Rabun Gap, the Panthers pushed their chips to the middle of the table.
“Our girls ran within a second of the school record and almost broke it, and that was Hope Smith, Laura Covarrubias, Amy Mendoza Lopez and Rylee Cassada,” said Harlfinger. “It was the fastest time that Franklin High School has run since they won the state championship four or five years ago. I think we ran 4:09 in the state championship to win it, and we ran 4:08 yesterday, so we’re trending in the right direction. The boys ran 3:27, which is a respectable enough mark, especially for this time of year.”
In running more than a second faster than Franklin’s 2021 2A State Champions, Smith, Covarrubias, Mendoza Lopez and Cassada should be tough to beat this spring. In addition to the 4x400, several other Panther women won their events.
“Justus Bradford did a great job in the high jump with a lifetime best. She cleared 5’1”, and the way that she cleared 5’1” looked like we kind of had a breakthrough moment,” said Harlfinger. “She cleared 5’1” by more than she cleared five feet, and there was a lot of room between her and the bar, so I’m really excited to see if we’ve unlocked something there. Addison Coker won the triple jump again; I think she’s won the triple jump a couple times this year. Charley Seagle and Claire Ballard continue to impress in the shot put and the discus, and we’re just so fortunate to have really good throwers in the girls side.”
Between Bradford, Coker, Seagle, Audrey Pressley in the long jump and Boston Stringer in the pole vault (who set an outdoor personal record by clearing 11’ with another foot to spare), Franklin won every women’s field event at Wednesday’s meet. In addition to these and other women’s wins around the track, Franklin’s men also continued to impress.
“Braylen Dezarn is also having a fantastic season in the 110 hurdles and the 300 hurdles, and I’d have to go back and look, but I think every time he races the 110 hurdles he gets a little bit faster,” said Harlfinger. “Another kid that’s continuing to get a little bit better … [is] Diego Lopez. Every time he runs the mile he gets five, six seconds faster, and he’s done it three or four times now. … Braxton Deal in the 300 hurdles ran a lifetime best, and that’s one where we’ve not really practiced it yet, and the 300 hurdles is not an easy race. In my head, just with his athleticism and his foot speed, I feel like he could be a good candidate to be successful in it.”
With two of 3A’s best top-to-bottom rosters, especially on the girls side, the Panthers have their sights set squarely on the state meet in Greensboro May 18. At Starr’s Mill High School south of Atlanta March 29, the team will prepare against some state-meet-like competition.
“We had this idea over the summer – Why would we drive three hours to Greensboro and race the same people we see all the time when we can go three hours south and race even faster people?” said Harlfinger. “It’s gonna be 20 schools, and at least 10 of them are the best schools in Georgia. … I’ve been following the entries for the meet, and it’ll be significantly more competitive than the state championship we’ll have down the road. For example, last year Isaiah Roots got third place at the state meet with a 49.10 [in the 400-meter dash], and ran fantastic. At this track meet last year, he wouldn’t have scored – I think he would have gotten 10th place.”