It was an outstanding day for Elizabethton junior Lauren Pilkton during Monday’s Three Rivers Conference track meet at LaPorte Track.

Pilkton raced to three first-place finishes before being selected as the girls’ Most Outstanding Runner.

The speedy Cyclone earned the top spot in the 800-meter (2:31.60), 1,600-meter (6:05.41), and the 3,200 meter (13:29.03) races. Pilkton’s most exciting moment came at the end of the 800-meter race. Pilkton and Sullivan Central’s Maci Cloninger sprinted to the finish line as Pilkton barely inched out the victory.

“One of the most exciting races of the day was definitely the 800,” said Elizabethton head coach Leslee Bradley. “It came down to a sprint to the finish. A six-one hundredth of a second separated first and second. You don’t see that in an 800-meter race too often. Lauren and the girl from Central just ran a heck of a race.”

“Lauren pulling that out was big,” added Bradley.

Pilkton also competed in the girls’ 4×800-meter relay with teammates Heather Estep, Chloe Lyons, and Loutisha Williams. The four finished third in the event behind Unicoi County and Sullivan South.

Pilkton was not the only Lady Cyclone to pick up first-place finishes. In the girls’ shot put, Elizabethon’s Jasmine Roberts tossed a 34-feet, 11-inch attempt which was good enough for the top spot while teammate Camryn Koroma took second in the event.

Koroma and Roberts switched places in the girls’ discus throw. Koroma slung the discus 112 feet, 9 inches to earn first. Robert followed up with a 98-01 throw for second.

Happy Valley’s Natalie Newsome took first in the girls’ 300-meter hurdles with a time of 50.82. Newsome’s teammate Jessica Earp finished third in the same event.

In boys competition, Cyclones Nick Street crossed the finish line at 11:17.73 in the 3,200-meter run, earning him a first-place performance. Street would also take second in the 1,600-meter run (5:02.04) behind Sullivan South’s Zach Johnson (4:53.90). In the 3,200, Street was joined by teammate Willam Newman who took fourth.

For Happy Valley, Austin Roark and Kai Norman both took first in their respective events as Roark finished on top in the long jump with a 20-02 attempt and Norman took first in the triple jump as he registered a 41-00 leap.

Roark also finished third in the high jump in front of Elizabethton’s Eric Wilson who took fourth in the event.

Happy Valley’s 4×100 team of Roark, Luke Phillips, Brayden Sams and Norman placed first with a time of 47.06. The Warriors 4×200 also took first place.

Other high finishers included Elizabethton’s Austin Outland who finish third in the 100 meter and fourth in the 200 meter. EHS’s Mikael Price was fourth in the 300-meter hurdles while Happy Valley’s Nick Conley took fourth in the 110-meter hurdles. Happy Valley’s Cameron Slone competed well enough for a fourth-place finish in the shot put while Elizabethton’s Ethan Spark was third in the discus throw.

Both Elizabethton and Happy Valley had athletes qualify for the state sectionals.

For Elizabethton Pilkton (1,600 meter race), Koroman (discus and shot put), Roberts (discus and shot put), Street (1,600 meter race), and Fields (3,200) will all compete during this weekend Big Schools sectional meet at Science Hill.

For Happy Valley, Roark (long jump and high jump), Brayden Sams (long jump), Norman (triple jump), Newsome (pole vault and 300-meter hurdles), Earp (100-meter and 300-meter hurdles, Conley (110-meter and 300-meter hurdles), Seth Clark (discus), Slone (shot put and discus), Aubrie Caldwell (100-meter dash), Charity Greene (200-meter dash) competed in the Small School sectionals held in Chatanooga on Friday. The 4×100 and 4×200 relay teams of Greene, Earp, Caldwell, and Newsom also qualified for the sectional.

For results from this weekend’s meet pick up Tuesday’s Elizabethton Star.