Kate Mattox came off the track — having just won the 1,600- and 3,200-meter state championships for Starkville High School — feeling guilty. She said as much to her coach, Caroline Woomer, who was quick to remind her why.
Finally, Woomer was letting Mattox go for the triple.
“She felt so bad for not giving her all for the team,” Woomer said, acknowledging the fact Mattox said such after winning two state championships. “I told her, ‘Ok, go ahead, then hurt yourself and you won’t be able to run the 800.'”
The energy she saved proved to be enough.
At the Mississippi High School Activities Association’s Class 6A track and field championship meet on May 5, Mattox took home state championships in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200, leading the Starkville girls to a sixth-place finish as a team. The Starkville boys finished fifth behind Lake Spradling’s two state championships in the 1,600 and the 3,200.
Mattox’s triple was years in the making.
Woomer has been fighting off Mattox’s requests to take on that heavy workload in a single meet for years. Not because Mattox couldn’t do it, but because Woomer wanted to save Mattox’s body from that grind.
Woomer said she thought Mattox was in form to pull the triple off at last year’s state championship meet, but still held her back from it. This time around, it was Mattox’s senior season, her final high school track meet before going on to Southern Mississippi’s track and field program.
“If she pops something, she pops something,” Woomer said through a smile, finally letting Mattox take her shot at it.
She clearly did not disappoint. Mattox ran the 800 after winning the 1,600 and 3,200 and set a personal record in it at 2:18.10.
“It was my last two laps of my high school career. I was running on adrenaline,” she said. “There was one girl who stayed with me the first 500 and kept trying to pass me. I started to pull away from her in the last 300 and then I just ran in fear of her coming back.”
Mattox won the race by just a little more than two seconds, but had more cushion in what she calls her natural events. She won the 1,600 by five seconds and the 3,200 by nearly 10 seconds over her younger sister, Caroline. Caroline Mattox also finished seventh in the 1,600.
In winning his two championships as an individual, Spradling stuck to his two best events and set personal bests in them both. He ran 1,600 in 4:24.89 and the 3,200 in 9:41.35.
“What I’ve learned about him in the last two years is that when he wants something, he gets it,” Woomer said. “He (set a personal record) in a home meet earlier this year: there was no competition, no one was pushing him. He just made his mind up that he wanted to do it, so he did.”
Spradling, a Mississippi State signee, used the thrill of competition to set a new personal record in the 1,600. Pearl’s Tony Mack finished less than three seconds behind Spradling and was tight with him the entire race.
“I feel like I hadn’t reached my full potential in the mile yet because I haven’t had anyone there to push me. I knew I could drop a lot of time off of that,” he said. “I was really excited to (set a new personal best), because I went into that race with the goal to win, but not necessarily to (break my personal record), so I was happy I felt really good.”
His win in the 3,200 contained less drama: “By the time there were 1,000 meters left, I knew I had it,” Spradling said of the race he won by more than 11 seconds.
Slater Richardson was not far behind the Spradling-Mack pack in the 1,600, finishing third. Starkville also had Tavian Clark take sixth in the 300 hurdles, Richardson finish third in the 800, Skylar Shields finish sixth in discus.
Each team also had a relay team place in the state meet, the girls getting a seventh-place finish from the 4×800 team and the boys 4×400 team finishing fifth.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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