Panther track and field are officially in championship season.
On April 20, the team traveled to A.C. Reynolds for their final meet of the regular-season, battling more than 40 elite teams at the Rockets’ Blue Ridge Classic. Led by another school-record time from their distance-running rising star, Franklin more than held their own with some of the area’s best programs.
“Morgan Cress broke the school record again in the two-mile, which is nuts considering she’s just a freshman,” said head coach Matt Harlfinger. “In the history of Franklin dating back to the 90s and how strong we were back then and during the early 2000s and 2010s, we were a distance program, so for a freshman to come in and shatter record after record ... I think she PR’ed [set a personal record] by 20 seconds. She ran 11:28, so she’s doing awesome.”
After breaking the previous two-mile record of 11:55 set by her teammate, Amy Mendoza Lopez earlier this year, Cress has continued to shave precious seconds off her time. The freshman now holds the school record in the two-mile run and helped Franklin to another in the 4x800-meter relay. In the jumping events, Franklin’s girls are even more loaded.
“Kamden Reis basically had a two-foot PR in the long jump. She jumped 15’11”, and she’s now number 10 all-time in school history,” said Harlfinger. “Franklin for years has had a very good track and field program, and I don’t know what has gotten into these girl jumpers, but right now we have five of the top 10 marks in school history in the long jump just from this year. And then on top of that we’ve got the number one and number two girl in school history, and six of the top 10 marks in the region in one of the toughest regions in the state.”
Between Reis, Laura Covarrubias, Audrey Pressley, Addison Coker, Talley Kinsland and Aubrey Haley, Franklin boasts an impossibly deep group of female long jumpers. At the 3A West Championships, also at A.C. Reynolds May 11, Franklin’s girls should have a real shot at the podium.
“Mallard Creek are a state championship 4A team in North Carolina, Science Hill [competes for] state championships in Tennessee, and Parkland has won state championships in 4A. Then there’s our girls in fourth place, and we left about 60 or 70 points at home just from prior commitments and resting [athletes],” said Harlfinger of the highly-competitive meet’s results. “Two of our top athletes, Charley Seagle and Audrey Pressley, had prior commitments and weren’t there. Lauras Covarrubias didn’t compete, Addison Coker and Talley Kinsland didn’t compete, and those are five of our top athletes. Justus Bradford and Izzy Shope didn’t compete and those are our two best high jumpers, so we probably could have won that track meet. ... When we’re at full strength and 100% commitment and we’ve got everybody there doing everything they can do to try and win a track meet, our girls are very tough to beat right now.”