It was an action pack day at Elizabethton High School as the Cyclones hosted their first home track and field meet in roughly 20 years on the newly resurfaced LaPorte Track.
On hand during Tuesday’s event was Joe LaPorte, who fired the starting gun for the girls’ 1600 meter race. The LaPorte family donated the money needed to renovate the track at EHS.
“It is all about the kids,” said LaPorte. “It is just great to see everyone come out and watch the meet. I told my brother that if this doesn’t reinforce the giving, then nothing will. This is just awesome.”
It was fitting that LaPorte fired off the starting blast in the girls’ 1600 meter as Elizabethton’s Heather Feuchtenberger raced to a first place finish and a new school record with a time of 5:22.85.
Feuchtenberger was ecstatic to learn that she had set a new record at Elizabethton, especially after the Lady Cyclones’ distance medley relay team had set a record Saturday during the DC/TC Relay at Dobyns-Bennett.
“It feels good,” said Feuchtenberger. “We broke one Saturday, and I broke one today, so I now have a total of five, which is really awesome. That was the goal in doing the mile.
“It was really hard,” continued Feuchtenberger. “I had never done anything that long. Long distance runners deserve all the credit. It is a really hard and mental thing. I had a lot of guidance heading into it.”
It being Elizabethton’s inaugural meet on LaPorte Track made things even sweeter for Feuchtenberger.
“It means a lot to me to know that Joe (LaPorte) is here and my family,” she said. “My coach, coach (Leslee) Bradley, she has helped me a lot. My Boys and Girls Club kids were over there cheering me on, and that means a lot.”
Feuchtenberger also took first in the girls 200-meter dash with a time of 27.03.
The Cyclones boys and girls track and field team had a combined 12 first place finishes.
Elizabethton’s Nicolas Street finished with two as he took the top spot in both the boys 800-meter run (2:15.62) and the boys 1600-meter run (5:11.00).
EHS’ other first place finishes included Jasmine Roberts in the girls’ shot put, Camryn Koroma in the girls’ discus, Amber King in the girls’ triple jump, Lauren Pilkton in the girls’ 800-meter run, the boys’ 4×100 relay, the boys 4×200 meter relay, and the girls 4×800 meter relay.
“We have a lot of gifted athletes,” said Cyclones head coach Leslee Bradley. “It was nice to spread them out in a lot of different events. I thought everyone did a great job today.”
Also in the mix Tuesday was the Happy Valley High School track and field teams. It was a good day for the Warriors as they recorded five first-place finishes.
Happy Valley’s Dylan Street had the best showing for the Warriors as he took first in both the long jump (20 feet) and the 100-meter dash (11.55).
In the triple jump, Happy Valley’s Kai Norman snatched first, while Austin Roark won the high jump and Brayden Sams took first in the 200-meter dash.
With the first meet on LaPorte Track in the books, the Cyclones will be gearing up to host the next home meet on Apr. 20. Bradley said that things went good Tuesday and it was a lot of fun.
“It was a great first meet,” she said. “It was neat to see a lot of people from the community come out and watch the meet. We had a great support group today.”