Season Preview: Track & Field
TFS looks to build off top-10 finishes from last season
A new chapter begins for the Tallulah Falls track and field program under new coach Jamie Jimison, who has coached at a high level and will hold the program to high standards.
TFS is coming off a banner year in which the Lady Indians placed fourth at state and the boys sixth. That is the highest placement for the girls, while the boys had a 3rd-place finish in 2021 that is the only season to rival last year.
The girls last season piled up points at the state meet, and Joanna Miller, Olivia Henderson, and Mary Kate Ball were a large part of that success. All three return this time around.
Miller, the school record holder in the 200, won the state title in that event, and as part of the title-winning 4x100 relay team. Henderson, who holds the school marks in the 1600 and 3200, as well as the 4x800 Relay, was part of the 3rd-place 4x800 relay group, and looks to build off her impressive cross county season this past fall.
Ball, a freshman who competed at state as an 8th-grader last spring, already holds the school record in the 800, which she set at state. She also was part of the 4x800 relay. Ball's run at state last year produced a runner-up finish in the 800 and a 5th-place run in the 400, which was just three seconds off a 37-year school record.
Last year, Miller won three individual region titles as part of her trophy haul, and she became the first girl at TFS to win the Region High Point Award.
Meanwhile, the Indians hope to duplicate last year's 6th-place team finish, or exceed it.
State champion thrower Ade Akisanya has graduated, but the team will lean on distance runners Ryan Anderson and Teagan Penland. Anderson was third at state in the 400. He was also fourth in the 800, and is close to breaking the school records in both of those events.
The track and field teams unofficially opened the season in the Coach King/Big Peach Running Distance Kickoff last weekend, as a select group of four TFS athletes (Anderson, Henderson, Ball, Penland) participated. The season officially begins on February 26 at Banks County.
The GIAA Region Championships are April 22-23, and the State Championship is April 30-May 2.