by Wes Mayberry
The Paducah Sun
June 18, 2021
Used with permission.

Last week’s KHSAA Class 2A State Track and Field Championships featured a
heavy dose of Paducah Tilghman athletes. The Tornado and Lady Tornado
qualified for the state meet in 23 of the 36 events and brought home
three state championships.

“That’s the key — you want to try to get as many of your athletes in the state
finals because that gives you the opportunity to get points,” Tilghman
head coach Randy Wyatt told The Sun on Wednesday of qualifying so many
athletes for state.

Both the Tornado and Lady Tornado placed fourth in the overall team
standings at last Friday’s meet in Lexington with 58.5 and 38 points,
respectively, in an effort highlighted by the trio of state titles.

Senior Landon Fitzgerald was Tilghman’s lone individual state champ. He posted
a mark of 21-4.50 in the long jump, besting second place by a margin of
1 inch. With last season being canceled due to COVID and Fitzgerald
being a relatively new track athlete, Wyatt said he couldn’t have asked
for a better result. Fitzgerald entered the event as the No. 10 seed
after posting a distance of 20-03 at the regional meet.

“The improvement in just one year and being able to go out and win a state
championship says a lot about him,” Wyatt said. “He’s really bought into
track and field — he loves it — and he’s taking his fifth year and
coming back next year.”

Tilghman’s other two state championships came courtesy of the girls 4x100 and
4x200 meter relay teams. The 4x100 team — Alec Coffie, Jaaliyah Biggers,
Diamond Gray and Massie Harris — ran a time of 49.43 seconds, beating
out second-place Franklin County by just 0.15 seconds.

The 4x200 team — Coffie, Gray, Dasia Garland and Harris — posted a time of 1:47.02 to beat out North Oldham by 0.68 seconds.

“Those girls did a great job. Before the meet, I told them, ‘At the end of the
day, you need to look yourselves in the mirror and say you gave it
everything you had,’ and they did that and got gold medals, which is all
you can ask for,” Wyatt said. “Those girls have been dominant all year
long, and I think they’re going to be dominant again next year. We have
all those girls coming back, so I’m looking forward to that.”

Though he didn’t win any state titles, junior Luke Birdsong put together a
nice redemption story at the state meet with solid finishes in several
events after starting the season out of shape.

“He came into the season overweight and had shin splints real bad, so he
wasn’t running to the level I expected him to because he was the top
sprinter coming back in the state of Kentucky,” Wyatt said. “There were
times where he was ranked 19th or 20th — he was that far down the line.”

But Birdsong bought into the plan Wyatt put in place for him.

“I said, ‘You need to take care of your diet, and you have to come to
practice every day with a hoodie on — I don’t care how hot it is.’ He
bought into it and did some drills that I got from Marshall County’s
coach to help his shin splints,” Wyatt said. “Those shin splints went
away, and he started to click.”

At the state meet, Birdsong placed second in the 100 meter dash and third
in the 200 meter dash with times of 10.98 and 22.24 seconds,
respectively.

“That says a lot about him and his dedication to buying into coaching,” Wyatt said.

Birdsong was also a member of Tilghman’s 4x200 and 4x100 meter relay teams. The
4x200 team — Birdsong, Joemari Starks, Brian Thomas and Jackson Goodwin —
ran a time of 1:32.31 to place third while the 4x100 team — Birdsong,
Starks, Thomas and Paul McKnight — finished fourth with a time of 44.10
seconds.

Another relay runner, Biggers, also had some top finishes in individual events,
placing second in the long jump (17-9), fourth in the 100 meter dash
(12.65 seconds) and fifth in the triple jump (34-6). Wyatt said Biggers
was disappointed in those results, but he encouraged the junior to focus
on the future.

“Talking with her after state, I said, ‘You have to put this behind you. You
have to use this as motivation and fuel and energy to go out and
dominate next year.’ And she said, ‘I’m ready, Coach,’ ” Wyatt said. “So
I’m looking forward to a big year from her next year.”

Rounding out the top-five finishers for Tilghman were senior Jerome Tyler’s
second place in the triple jump (42-6.75) and senior Camden Marshall’s
fifth places in the triple jump (42-5) and high jump (6-0). Wyatt was
“really proud” of their performances, adding that they’re both set to
return as fifth-year seniors next year. Tilghman’s long list of state
results also included Goodwin (6th in 400 meter dash), Dale Young (7th
in pole vault), Garland (8th in triple jump, 10th in long jump),
Marshall (9th in long jump), Harris (10th in 100 meter dash, 12th in 200
meter dash), Madeline Strenge (13th in 3200 meter run), Kauri Whitfield
(13th in 300 meter hurdles), Faith Magee (14th in 100 meter hurdles),
Gray (17th in 200 meter dash), Kiersa Atnip (19th in 300 meter hurdles,
19th in 100 meter hurdles), Jaelynn Carver Smith (22nd in discus) and
Starks (22nd in 100 meter dash).

The boys 4x800 meter relay team — Myles Middleton, Jake Taylor, Liam Black
and Bishop Christ — placed seventh while the 4x400 team — Taylor,
Christ, Starks and Goodwin — finished eighth. Rounding out the Tilghman
contingent were the girls 4x800 meter relay team — Strenge, Alicia
Durfee, Olivia Ladd and Weslyn Durfee — with a 14th-place finish and the
4x400 team — Ladd, Gray, Garland and Whitfield — that placed 19th.

Wyatt said the canceled 2020 season was unfortunate for a Tilghman team that
was “deep and loaded” but added that he thoroughly enjoyed this year’s
group.

“This, hands down, has been the best season for me coaching kids. We were such
a family-oriented team,” he said. “I told the kids, ‘As a coach, your
job is to have an impact on kids. But you guys had more of an impact on
me than any other team in my lifetime.”

And with so many of this year’s state qualifiers returning for next season —
including some fifth-year seniors — he’s expecting a big year in 2022.

“I’m so excited about next year because we’re going to be loaded,” he said.
“This was a great learning experience for those kids because they were
all talking about how amped up they are for next year, and I think those
kids are going to give this program everything they have for us to get
back on top.”

Paducah Tilghman High School

Wyatt reflects on Tilghman track team's success at state