BRENTWOOD — Three area athletes secured spots in next week’s TSSAA Class AAA state track meet after their performances at the Region 3-AAA sectional at Brentwood High Wednesday afternoon.

Gallatin freshman Brett Neelly won the discus throw and finished fourth in the shot put. Station Camp’s Josh Malone finished tied for second in the high jump and Beech’s Jessica Rizor finished fourth in the 3,200-meter run.

The sectional meet continues Thursday with the running finals. The top four advance to next week’s state meet.

Rizor set a school record in the 3,200, running an 11:26 to best the 11:37.36 she ran at Kenwood last week to qualify for the sectional.

Neelly broke his own school record in winning the discus with a throw of 159-8.5. He broke the 24-year old mark earlier this season. He set a personal-best with a 49-3.5 to finish fourth in the shot put.

Malone set a school record in the high jump when he cleared 6-4 on his first attempt. The sophomore advanced after four competitors were deadlocked at 6-4 and he had the least amount of scratches.

Station Camp pole vaulter Hailee Hayes narrowly missed out on qualifying for Spring Fling. She got into a tiebreaker vault with Centennial’s Haley Draiss. Both attempted eight feet and did not clear. The bar was dropped to 7-9, Draiss just cleared it and Hayes cleared but her pole nicked the bar bringing it down and Draiss got the final spot to state.

Running on Thursday are Rizor, her sister Jessica and Station Camp’s Katie Braumiller in the 1,600-meter run. Station Camp’s Briana Simms and Lindsay LaGarde are in the 800-meter run and they join Morgan Dykes and Cassidy Hale as the Lady Bison’s 3,200-meter relay team. Hendersonville’s Anna Miller is in the 100-meter dash.

On the boys’ side, Malone will run the 200-meter dash; Beech’s Jacob Bolton will compete in the 110-meter hurdles; Gallatin’s Jason Griffin will compete in the 300-meter hurdles; Hendersonville’s Duncan Bennett will run the 100- and 200-meter dashes and be a part of the Commandos’ 800-meter relay team.

Griffin comes in seeded with the second-best time (39.60) behind district rival and friend Daniel Stegall of Mt. Juliet (39.45). The Lady Bison 3,200 relay team is also seeded second (10:00.87) behind Brentwood (9:58.65).

— Corby A. Yarbrough, Sports Editor
@Corby_Yarbrough on Twitter
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

File photo by Corby A. Yarbrough l THE STANDARD
Beech freshman Jessica Rizor finished fourth in the 3,200-meter run during Wednesday's 3-AAA sectional meet at Brentwood High. She advanced to the Spring Fling meet next week in Murfreesboro. She will return to Brentwood High on Thursday to try and advance in the 1,600-meter run as well.