Caldwell County will need to construct a larger trophy case to house to hardware from this season’s track and field teams. Less than a week after winning the runner-up trophy at the region meet, the Tigers finished a program-best fourth at Thursday’s KHSAA Class 1A State Meet in Lexington.
Needing a high finish in the final event of the day, the 1600-meter relay team of Tre Copeland, Gus Fox, Xvaier Lee, and Elijha Kirby finished in fourth place to leapfrog Beechwood in the team standings.
Their time of 3:31.98 was one of three school records set by Tiger relay teams.
Caldwell scored 32 points to finish five points ahead of Beechwood and was just 2.5 points out of third place. Louisville Collegiate (53) won the 1600-meter relay to sew up the state title with Williamsburg (46) second.
The highlight of the day was Caldwell County’s first-ever state championship as Gus Fox, Tre Copeland, Xvaier Lee, and Shane Fairrow combined to make two circuits around the track in 1:29.54, missing a state record by .54 seconds.
The same foursome came in third place in the 400-meter relay in 43.69 seconds, getting clipped at the finish by Beechwood (43.18) and Campbellsville (43.36).
In addition to the three trips to the medal podium by Caldwell County relay teams, they also had two individual medals.
Shane Fairrow ran an 11.01 in the 100-meter to finish in second place behind Newport Central Catholic’s Charlie Ford (10.95). He also came in 11th place in the 200-meter dash in 23 seconds flat.
Daniel Laurent took home a 6th-place medal in the discus throw at 139-9.
Also competing on an overcast day at the University of Kentucky was Cooper Mobley, who finished 10th in the discus throw at 129 feet and was 17th in the shot put with a toss of 41-1.5.
Jackson Risley finished 16th in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 43.48 seconds and was 16th in the triple jump at 37-5.5
The 3200-meter relay team of Eli Stevens, Layton Wall, Evan Ramage, and Charles Ray opened the day with a 21st place in 9:15.21.
