Champions Again! TA Boys Take Division II State Track and Field Title, Girls Earn Fifth
January 28, 2025
Guest post by Coach Charlie Buttrey
The TA indoor track team made history on Sunday at UVM’s Gutterson Field House as the boys earned a D-II state championship, and the girls raced to a solid 5th-place finish. Indoor track is the only sport in which TA competes at the D-II level, so the win was particularly impressive, as was the dominant 45-point differential between the TA boys and second-place U-32.
Many athletes contributed to the win. Senior Uly Junker led the way, winning the 55 dash in a new state-record time of 6.55 seconds, winning the 300, winning the long jump, and earning another first-place finish as part of the victorious 4 x 200 relay team (joined by seniors Evan Rich and Luke Miller and junior Emmett Terry), which missed the state record by 1/100th of a second.
Senior Brady Sloop won the 1000 in a new school record time of 2:40.52, and finished second in the 1600 in 4:36.83 (also lowering his school record in the process). Miller also scored points for the team in the 300 and the 600, and was part of the winning 4 x 400 relay team as well (joined by Terry and juniors David Thaxton and Daniel Mann). In addition to being part of the 4 x 200 relay team, Rich also finished 4th in the 55 dash, 4th in the high jump, and 4th in the long jump. Senior Hunter Clay made the podium in the high jump and the long jump, and senior Ramona Spelman finished 5th in 55 hurdles.
On the girls side, senior Maya Dixon earned a fifth-place finish in the 55 hurdles, while senior Ava Hayden finished 3rd in the 1000, 4th in the 1600 and 5th in the 3200. The girls 4 x 400 relay team (consisting of Hayden and the sophomore trio of Lizzy Brown, Aislin Peters and Leah Crossett) finished 4th, and the girls 4 x 800 relay team (Brown, Peters, Crossett and senior Ella Harvey) also earned the team points with a 4th-place finish.
Eight TA athletes punched a ticket to compete at the New England championship meet at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston on March 1st: Junker (55, 300, long jump, 4 x 200 relay), Sloop (1000, 1600), Miller (4 x 200 relay, 4 x 400 relay), Terry (4 x 200 relay, 4 x 400 relay), Rich (4 x 200 relay), Thaxton (4 x 400 relay) and Hayden (1000).
