The Caldwell County Tigers made their presence known in their first appearance in the Class A Region 1 track meet at Murray High School on Saturday.
Caldwell brought home a trophy in the boys’ regional for what is believed to be the first time in school history.
The Tigers totaled 95 team points to trail only Fort Campbell (142 points). University Heights Academy and Murray tied for third with 78 points apiece.
Cooper Mobley had two first-place showings and the Tigers recorded four second-place finishes at the regional. Those all qualify for the state track meet in Lexington May 30. Caldwell expects to have several others receive at-large bids for state.
Mobley’s distance of 51 feet, 2 inches, took the shot put competition by 7 feet, 5.5 inches.
His discus distance of 143 feet, 3 inches, was 12 feet, 1 inch farther than second place.
Max Heaton had a pair of second-place showings for Caldwell.
He will be the first Caldwell athlete to compete at state in the pole vault after placing second at 8 feet, 6 inches. He was also second in the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 17.48 seconds.
Shane Fairrow was second in the 100-meter dash in 11.17 seconds.
The Tigers’ 4×200-meter relay team also earned a trip to state, finishing second in 1:31.42. Members of that team are Luke Maddox, Tre Copeland, Xzavier Lee and Shane Fairrow.
Fairrow took third in the 200-meter dash in 23.10 seconds.
Timothy Nichols was third in the triple jump at 18 feet, 2.5 inches.
Daniel Laurent placed third in the discus at 130 feet, 6 inches. He also finished fourth in the shot put at 40 feet, 9.5 inches.
Jackson Risley was fourth in the 300 hurdles in 45.80 seconds.
Caldwell had two relay squads place fourth.
The 4×100 team of Gus Fox, Copeland, Maddox and Fairrow was fourth in 44.25 seconds.
The 4×400 team of Nichols, Heaton, Copeland and Lee took fourth in 3:49.41.
The 4×800 relay squad of Hoayang Wu, James Phelps, Charles Ray and Layton Wall placed fifth in 9:34.64.
Maddox was fifth in the 200 dash in 23.36 seconds.
Heaton placed fifth in the 300 hurdles in 47.05 seconds.
Risley finished sixth in both the high jump (5 feet, 4 inches) and the triple jump (35 feet, 8 inches).
Nichols took sixth in the long jump at 18 feet, 2.5 inches.
Other Top 10 finishes for the Tigers included Copeland, who was seventh in the 400 dash in 53.87 seconds, and Wall, who finished seventh in the 800 run in 2:23.07.
Maddox was eighth in the 100 dash in 11.49 seconds.
Ray placed ninth in the 400 dash in 57.93 seconds.
Hoayang Wu was ninth in the 800 run in 2:26.62.
Johnathon Adams took 10th in the 1,600-meter run in 5:36.87.
With Caldwell’s girls also placing third, it’s the best overall showing ever for the CCHS track program at the regional level.
Both Caldwell teams turned in third-place finishes in 2022 in the Class 2A Region 1 meet at Paducah Tilghman.
It’s the first regional track trophy (first or second place) of any kind for Caldwell in over 20 years.
Caldwell was dropped to Class A for the first time this season.
