James Pritt had a good feeling about his team as the Stone Memorial Panthers and Lady Panthers entered last week’s TSSAA State Track and Field Championships in Murfreesboro. Pritt had two guys — Nathan Wagner and Trevor Sinard, along with one girl — Shelby Vitous competing in the event.
Pritt believed the Stone trio had the potential to do very well against of the top athletes in the state.
It could be a big day for the black and gold.
But Pritt was even a little surprised after watching Wagner win the 800 meters, Sinard finish third in both the discus and the shot put, and Vitous come through with a fifth-place finish in the 1600.
“I knew that Nathan and Trevor both had a really good chance of getting the state championship,” Pritt said.
“That was mainly because Nathan’s time in the 800 was ranked No. 1 in the state. The same thing with Trevor’s discus distance. His best throw was probably eight or nine feet past second place.
“We’ve been working a lot with Shelby on her starts. With the teardrop start in her race runners can get boxed in. That happened again, but Shelby fought through it and had a positive results.”
Wagner took the championship title in the 800 meters with a time of 1 minute, 54.69 seconds. Wagner also usually competes in the 1,600 meters, but he and Pritt talked and decided focusing on just the 800 would probably be better for Wagner.
“Running both of them takes a lot of energy out of you and Nathan said he thought he might scratch out of the 1600,” Pritt said. “It was going to be against the best in the state, but Nathan was confident he would run a good race in the 800.
“Nathan got in front and ran a great race. He broke his own school record of 1:55, or 1:56, I think.”
Sinard finished third in each of his competitions. He had a throw of 173 feet, 5 inches in the discus, while also throwing 50-10 in the shot put.
“Trevor didn’t throw bad in the discus. He threw probably his sixth and seventh best throws in his career, but he didn’t throw anywhere close to what his personal best was,” Pritt said.
“The kid that did win the state threw like seven feet more than his previous personal record.
“We knew he would probably take third in the shot put because the two kids ahead of him were a good five, 10 feet further than what he throws.”
Pritt said one of Sinard’s discus throws looked like it was going out of bounds. However, it was windy that day and Pritt said the wind kept the discus inbounds.
Sinard’s effort in the shot put, Pritt said, was even more spectacular considering Sinard had a injured finger which figured into his release.
Vitous, one of the premiere long distance runners in the state, battled a crowded field in the 1600 meters. However, she finished fifth overall with a time of 5:20.93.
“Three meets ago, Shelby got boxed in during the race. So, we’ve been working with her on her starts and how to keep from getting boxed in,” Pritt said. “Sure enough, she got boxed in at the state meet and finished fifth.”
Pritt said he hopes the team’s recent success at the state will help bring out more student-athletes to join the roster.
“The first year I was here, three seasons ago, we had 19 or 20 kids. And we took a couple young kids to state,” Pritt said. “ Each year, we’ve gained, I don’t know, seven or eight kids. The second year, we were around 30 kids. And this year, we were like 36.
And out of 35, 36 kids, we advanced 24 or 25 to the sectionals, which is incredible. I mean, that’s like 75 percent of our team got out of sectionals. And I don’t think that that’s ever been done at Stone Memorial.”