Chiefs' Mowell shines at Frank Carver Invitational

BRISTOL — Cherokee freshman Leah Mowell made the most of a sunny Saturday at the 18th Frank Carver outdoor track and field invitational at Tennessee High, taking gold in the shot put and silver in the discus.

Mowell’s winning heave of 39 feet, 3 inches in the shot put was less than three inches off the meet record and broke the long-standing Cherokee school record that had been around since before she was born. The previous record, held by Anna Galbreath, had stood since 1993 — and Mowell smashed it by nearly a foot. (Oddly enough, Galbreath also holds the school’s high jump record at 5-6).

For her efforts, Mowell was named the meet’s most outstanding female field events athlete. Her throw in the discus (114-2) was also a personal best.

“I broke the record from Anna Galbreath from like 1993,” Mowell said. “That’s the record I’ve been chasing, and I’ve been throwing 33s for a couple of weeks. I’ve been trying to work on being more accurate with my form, so that’s what led to the big throw. … The discus was another big PR. I had only thrown 108 before today.”

Volunteer senior middle distance standout and Lincoln Memorial signee Jacie Begley had a solid outing in the 400-meter dash, placing seventh in 1:01.57.

Still working her way back from an injury, Volunteer’s Aliah Laster was third in the 100 hurdles, clocking 17.11 while teammate Taylor Boggs was eighth (17.46). Boggs also placed fifth in the 300 hurdles (51.26).

Laster tied for eighth in the high jump earlier in the meet, clearing 4 feet, 6 inches along with Cherokee’s Brooke Nelson.

Volunteer’s girls were seventh in the 4x400 relay (4:22.76), while Cherokee’s girls 4x100 relay team placed eighth (55.68).

In the long jump, Cherokee’s Emily Cuthrell was sixth with a leap of 15-8.75.

On the boys side, Volunteer junior Roman Borghetti-Metz finished runner-up in the 800, clocking 1:59.89 and running most of the race by himself. Eventual winner Luke Mussard of Dobyns-Bennett was two seconds ahead from the gun, and Borghetti-Metz was left chasing and ahead of the pack.

In the 1,600, Volunteer’s Kevin McCurry had a great finish and clocked 4:40.08 to finish seventh in a deep field.

Volunteer junior Jordyn Wingar-Collis had two scoring performances in the 110 and 300 hurdles, placing seventh (16.45) and fourth (42.75) respectively.

Volunteer nabbed runner-up honors in the 4x400 relay, finishing with a time of 3:36.64. Cherokee finished eighth (3:45.62).

Cherokee’s 4x100 relay clocked 45.50 to finish seventh in a deep field filled with Class AAA teams.

Volunteer’s Lucas Gilliam was runner-up in the high jump after losing on more misses to Tennessee High’s Jack Richardson at 6-2.

Volunteer senior thrower Kasey Brown was battling the wind, like most of the other throwers on Saturday, and finished second in the discus (153-0) and third in the shot put (53-2). One of Brown’s discus throws looked like it may travel upwards of 160-plus feet, but when it got too high, the wall of wind caught it and plunged it straight into the ground. Teammate Jackson Clonce finished seventh in the discus (144-4) and eighth in the shot put (45-7).

Cherokee’s Kolden Singleton finished fourth in triple jump with a leap of 41-04.75. The Chiefs’ Jhay Sulit also broke a school record in pole vault at 11-00.00 to finish ninth. The previous mark of 10-7 by Keifer Wilson had stood since 2012.