Sunbright Track and Field Team Slays Giants

By Terry Futrell

Tiny Sunbright High school with an enrollment of 152, fifth smallest school with a Track and Field Program in the State of Tennessee, is making its presence felt by several larger schools in the Knoxville Area. In an invitational meet held at Powell High School on April 19, Sunbright’s boys placed fourth among eight schools. Sunbright was surpassed only by Gibbs (enrollment 988), Powell (enrollment 1290), and Carter (enrollment 802). Sunbright’s boys scored higher than Clinton (enrollment 1125), Scott (enrollment 815), Paideia Academy, and Knoxville Ambassadors. Sunbright’s boys and girls won first place in two events, placed second in one event, and placed in the top five in four additional events.

So, isn’t this to be expected considering the vast amount of money invested in track and field facilities at Sunbright? Wrong! There are no track and field facilities at Sunbright, which adds even greater significance to the outstanding performance of Sunbright’s track and field athletes. Sunbright Head Coach Tara England and Assistant Coach Sara Trail have done a phenomenal job preparing their athletes using makeshift facilities.

To practice high hurdles, the team sets up hurdles in the parking lot and simply practices jumping over the hurdles. There is no facility for running the full length of a hurdles race. The result – Sunbright captured first, fourth, and seventh place in the boys 300 meter hurdles and the girls captured fifth place in the eight-school meet at Powell.

Sunbright has no long jump pit. The result – Sunbright captured first, sixth, and seventh place in the boys long jump and the girls captured sixth place in the Powell meet.

With no running track on which to practice, Sunbright captured second place in the boys 400 meter dash and fourth in the girls 400 meter dash. Sunbright also captured fourth place in the boys 4 x 800 meter relay with a time that was less than one second behind third place.

Top performers of the day were Jonah Freels and Caleb Quinney. Freels won both the long jump and the 300 meter hurdles. Freels long jump was two feet longer than the second-place finisher. His winning margin in the hurdles was almost three seconds. Quinney placed second in the 400 meter dash with a time that was only .09 seconds behind first place. Because Wartburg Central, Quinney’s home school, has no track program, Quinney participates on the Sunbright team.

Complete results for the Sunbright team showing place finished, participant, and time/distance are as follows:

Boys 100 Dash

Girls 100 Dash

Boys 200 Dash

Boys 300 Hurdles

Girls 300 Hurdles

Boys 400 Dash

Girls 400 Dash

Boys Discus Throw

Girls Discus Throw

Girls Long Jump

Boys Long Jump

Boys Shot Put

Girls Shot Put

Boys 4 x 800 Meter Relay