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Star Correspondent

The Happy Valley High School track and field team is Murfreesboro-bound after a strong showing at the Class A East Sectional meet. The Warriors qualified eight athletes across eight events for the 2025 TSSAA Track and Field State Championships, which will be held at Middle Tennessee State University.

Headlining the girls qualifiers is junior Kaydence Carroll, who earned state berths in both the pentathlon and the triple jump. Carroll placed second in the pentathlon with a total of 588 points and followed up with a second-place finish in the triple jump at 33 feet even. Her efforts were central to Happy Valley’s overall team performance.

Carroll will also compete as a member of the 4×200-meter relay team that secured a second-place finish in 1:55.89. She will be joined by teammates Abbie Lunsford, Josephine Zeoli and Jordan Fields in that event. Fields also qualified individually, placing fifth in the 100-meter hurdles and competing in multiple relay and field events throughout the meet.

On the boys side, senior Tyler Bailey stood out by winning the pole vault with a height of 13 feet, 6 inches. Bailey also advanced in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing fourth with a time of 17.20 seconds.

Joining him in both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles is James Cable, who captured third place in both events with times of 17.01 and 42.82 seconds, respectively. Cable’s double-qualifying performance marks one of the most impressive multi-event results of the meet for the Warriors.

Julian Pate earned a third-place finish in the pole vault by clearing 11 feet, rounding out the list of state qualifiers for the boys team.

The sectional meet also featured notable efforts from athletes who narrowly missed qualifying. Colby McNabb placed 10th in the boys 100-meter dash and 11th in the long jump. Jace Winegar finished ninth in the triple jump and 15th in the 400-meter dash. In throwing events, Mason Norman earned sixth in the discus with a throw of 113 feet, 10 inches.

On the girls side, Zeoli had a standout meet with a 10th-place finish in the 100-meter dash, an 11th-place finish in the 200-meter dash and a fourth-place mark in the long jump at 15 feet, 5.75 inches. Lunsford also showed versatility, placing in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes and running on both the 4×100 and 4×200 relay teams.

In field events, Kiera Laws and Gracie Younce took fifth and sixth, respectively, in the discus, while Sara James placed 10th in the shot put.

Additional performances included a fourth-place 400-meter dash finish by Carroll in 1:03.75 and an eighth-place pentathlon finish by Aalyiah Rangel, who totaled 516 points. Jordan Fields also placed fourth in the pentathlon and participated in the high jump, hurdles and relays, highlighting her range of skills.

The Happy Valley boys placed fifth in the 4×200 relay with a time of 1:40.61, and the girls team added a seventh-place finish in the 4×100 and the 4×400 relay events.

With eight athletes now set to represent Happy Valley on the state stage, the Warriors head to Murfreesboro looking to cap their season with more standout performances. The TSSAA state championships will be held May 20 at MTSU’s Dean A. Hayes Track and Soccer Stadium.