Adrian Crawford started his track career last season without a clue of what he wanted to do.
Union City coach Wade Maddox worked with Crawford to figure out which events he was good at and which he needed work with heading into his freshman year in 2023.
“Most of them were, if I worked at it, I’d be very good at it,” Crawford said. “My sophomore year, we were thinking about putting me in the decathlon.”
Crawford proved his versatility with state championships in the triple jump and high jump while adding a runner-up result in the decathlon. Crawford was named The Jackson Sun’s All-West Tennessee boys Athlete of the Year for his stellar season.
Milan junior Raven Milan was named the All-West Tennessee girls Athlete of the Year for a remarkable season, ending with a state championship in the long jump – the Bulldogs’ first girl champion since Mary Black’s long jump title in 1984.
Crawford’s decathlon feat was all the more impressive in that he struggled with the pole vault. He skipped the event at first and kept working on it. He cleared the minimum height of seven feet after three jumps after some work with it.
The perseverance Crawford showed helped lead the Golden Tornadoes to a second-place finish in the TSSAA Class 1A state meet.
“I have several others now that want to try the decathlon,” Maddox said. “It’s going to be big when we’re starting to train multifaceted guys that want to multiple things. … (Crawford) is definitely going to lead us having more kids to want to come out and some things like that.”
The 2024 All-West Tennessee track and field teams include:
Boys
Julius Brown
Adamsville, Sr.
Events: 800
Why chosen: Brown had a strong showing at the TSSAA state meet with a third-place finish in the 800-meter run in a time of 2:04.59.
Keaton Brown
Union City, Sr.
Events: Shot put, discus
Why chosen: Brown won the TSSAA state championship in discus with a throw of 146-feet-2 and placed third in shot put with a throw of 43-8.75.
Ridge Bruce
Camden Central, Sr.
Events: 1,600
Why chosen: Bruce followed up his cross country state title with an eighth-place finish in the 1,600 at the TSSAA state meet with a final time of 5:00.10.
Adrian Crawford
Union City, So.
Events: Long jump, triple jump, high jump, decathlon
Why chosen: Crawford was dominant this season, winning both the triple jump with a mark of 44-2 and the high jump (6-4) and recorded a second-place finish in the decathlon with a final total of 5,590 points. He also had a long jump of 20-9.5 earlier in the season.
Pete Douglas
Camden, Jr.
Events: 3,200
Why chosen: Douglas earned a runner-up finish in the TSSAA state final of the 3,200 with a final time of 10:12.05.
Damon Hernandez
Madison, Jr.
Events: Pole vault
Why chosen: Hernandez cleared an 11-0 mark to place fourth in the TSSAA Class 1A state finals.
Parker Knop
McKenzie, So.
Events: 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles
Why chosen: Knop had the top time in the area with 17.39 in the 110hurdles in the TSSAA subsectional event and had a 44.60 time in the 300 hurdles.
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Ja’Den Lee
Ripley, Sr.
Events: 100, 200
Why chosen: Lee won the TSSAA Class 1A state championship in the 100 with a time of 11.04 and finished second in the 200 with a time of 21.95.
Kaleb Williams
TCA, Jr.
Events: 400
Why chosen: Williams claimed two state championships with an individual title in the 400 (48.92).
Relays
TCA
Event: 4x100
Carson Dooley, Emory Summerlin, Lekhy Thompkins, Brayden Waller
Why chosen: The Lions placed an area-best fourth in the TSSAA Division II-A state championship meet with a time of 44.23.
TCA
Event: 4x200
Owen Atwood, Zane Atwood, Brayden Waller, Kaleb Williams
Why chosen: The Lions combined to win a TSSAA Division II-A state championship with a new school record of 1:28.95 to help Williams secure a second state title at the meet.
Union City
Event: 4x400
Malaki Brooks, Adrian Crawford, Kameron Shade, Andre Small
Why chosen: The Golden Tornadoes placed fourth in the TSSAA Class 1A state championship meet with a final time of 3:31.61.
Camden Central 4x800
Ridge Bruce, Pete Douglas, Kade Johnson, Jackson Thornton
Why chosen: The Lions cruised to a state championship in the TSSAA Class 1A state finals with a time of 8:18.29.
Girls
Ximena Acosta
Madison, Sr.
Events: 800
Why chosen: Acosta earned a runner-up finish in the TSSAA state championship in the 800 with a final time of 2:27.62.
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Katana Bonds
Union City, Jr.
Events: Triple jump
Why chosen: Bonds took fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 33-6 to help the Golden Tornadoes finish sixth.
Lola Greenway
Madison, Fr.
Events: 400
Why chosen: Greenway finished third in the TSSAA state championship meet in the 400 with a time of 59.56.
Kyla Hawkins
Madison, Jr.
Events: Pole vault
Why chosen: Hawkins earned a third-place finish in the pole vault at the TSSAA state finals with a mark of 9-0.
Kinley Hines
USJ, Sr.
Events: 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles
Why chosen: Hines had two fifth place finishes in the hurdle events at the TSSAA Division II-A state meet. Hines finished the 100 hurdles in 15.55 and the 300 hurdles in 48.48.
Debrionna Jones
Union City, Jr.
Events: Shot put
Why chosen: Jones earned a runner up in the TSSAA Class 1A state shot put championship with a throw of 34-11.75.
Addyson Kirkland
USJ, Fr.
Events: 1,600
Why chosen: Kirkland earned a seventh-place finish in the TSSAA Division II-A state finals of the 1,600 run with a time of 5:47.44.
Brenley Little
Dresden, Jr.
Events: 3,200
Why chosen: Little had a fourth-place finish in the 3,200 in the TSSAA Class 1A state championships with a time of 12:34.33.
Raven Milan
Milan, Jr.
Events: Long jump
Why chosen: Milan won the TSSAA Class 1A state championship in the long jump with a jump of 16-11.75 and the first Bulldog state champion since Mary Black in 1984, who also won the long jump.
Florence Pela
Madison, Sr.
Events: 100, 200
Why chosen: Pela had a fifth-place finish in the 200-meter dash (26.55) and sixth in the 100 (12.98).
Alana Perkins
Haywood, Sr.
Events: Discus
Why chosen: Perkins had a third-place finish in the discus during the TSSAA state championship meet with a throw of 123-3.
Olivia Welch
USJ, Jr.
Events: Pentathlon
Why chosen: Welch earned a fifth-place finish in the TSSAA Division II-A state meet with 2,525 points.
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Camarya Woodland
Haywood, So.
Events: High jump
Why chosen: Woodland nearly won a TSSAA state championship in the high jump, finishing second with a jump of 5-2 for the Tomcats.
Relays
Union City
Event: 4x100
Katana Bonds, Indeya Hogsett, Aujani Moss, Nakyah Yarbqrough
Why chosen: The Golden Tornadoes finished seventh in the TSSAA state finals with a time of 51.93.
Madison
Event: 4x200
Lola Greenway, Sandrea Hurt, Mary Kinsley Nye, Kaylin Tyus
Why chosen: The Mustangs finished runner-up in the TSSAA state championship with a time of 1:45.79.
USJ
Event: 4x400
Haynes Haltom, Lauren Hutchison, Adan Jett, Lilly Teague
Why chosen: The Bruins had a second-place finish in the relay at the TSSAA Division II-A state championships with a time of 4:10.91.
USJ
Event: 4x800
Lauren Hutchison, Adan Jett, Addyson Kirkland, Lilly Teague
Why chosen: The Bruins had another second-place finish in the TSSAA Division II-A state championship meet with a final time of 9:58.43.
Coach of the Year
Wade Maddox, Union City
Why chosen: Maddox guided the Golden Tornadoes’ boys program to a second-place finish in the TSSAA state meet and the girls team to a sixth-place finish. The Golden Tornadoes also had two state champions in three events.
Austin Chastain is a high school sports writer covering West Tennessee. Reach him by email atachastain@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @ChastainAJ.
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