Lincoln’s Crosby wins shot put and discus titles at state meet – The Advocate-Messenger

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Eli Short, left, takes over from Boyle County teammate Andrew Nason for the second leg of the Class 2A boys 400-meter relay en route to a victory Friday at the state track and field championships in the KHSAA. Photo by Mike Marsee

Andrew Nason, Brock Driver, Geordon Brown and Eli Short, from left, celebrate their victory Friday in the Class 2A boys 400-meter relay at the KHSAA state track and field championships. Photo by Mike Marsee

Lincoln County’s Germani Crosby attempts a throw en route to a third straight title in the Class 2A girls’ shot put Friday at the KHSAA state track and field championships. Photo by Mike Marsee

Germani Crosby wants it all.

The Lincoln County sophomore won two state track and field championships Friday, for a total of four in three years, but her goals are much higher.

Crosby hopes to continue his dominance in the shot put and discus, accumulating even more championships and rewriting state records in both events before leaving high school.

“My next goal is to set state records in the shot put and discus,” Crosby said.

In the present, however, Crosby was thrilled to win Class 2A titles in both throwing events at the KHSAA State Track and Field Championships.

“I’m so happy to have won both. It means a lot to me and my coaches,” she said.

Crosby won two of the six state championships won by area athletes in the Class 2A section of the state meet at the University of Kentucky.

“I’ve wanted this since eighth grade,” she said. “I wasn’t as focused, I would say, in recent years, but I really focused on what I wanted to accomplish.”

Crosby won her third straight shot put title by nearly 4 1/2 feet with a throw of 40 feet, 2 1/2 inches, and she won the discus for the first time by more than 23 feet with a record staff of 134-1.

And she was able to share her success with her younger sister Zyanya, a freshman who medaled in both events, finishing fifth.

“I’ve been promoting my sister since day one,” Germani Crosby said. “She’s the one who introduced me to shooting and discus because she’s the one who joined track and field first, and I couldn’t have done it without her.”

Mercer County, the defending Class 2A boys team champion, exceeded expectations by finishing second in the boys team standings.

“We had to finish fourth. We were only supposed to score 31 points and ended up scoring 52,” Mercer coach Lyn Flach said.

Boyle County finished third in the boys race, its best finish since winning a team title in 2019.

The Rebels received a boost from the 400-meter relay team of Andrew Nason, Eli Short, Brock Driver and Jordan Brown, who won in 43.23 seconds.

“We were seeded second and we were like, ‘We’re getting this gold medal,’ because there was only 0.2 seconds left, if that, and we won another half a second. second today after already getting our PR, like a half second at regionals,” Short said “We were ready to win that gold medal and secure the state championship.”

Brown was the newest addition to the relay team, joining the regional competition after recovering from stress fractures in both legs.

Short, the only senior in the group, said he was excited to win his final high school race. He plans to try out for the team in Louisville next year.

“I’ve been racing track for seven years, and we won regional championships and that made me ecstatic… so to be able to get first place, especially in an event that I’m extremely passionate about, yeah, that made me just passed the moon again.

Mercer’s only individual victory came from Titus Gay, who surpassed his previous best in the men’s triple jump by more than 2 feet with a leap of 43-8 on his final attempt.

He had a few minutes to take the measurement, and as soon as he heard it, he started bounding around the infield, hugging his teammates and screaming with joy.

“I knew it was a good jump…and (the official) was taking forever to get the measurement…so the anticipation was just crazy,” Gay said. “And then he says 43-8, and that made me so happy because as a freshman I never expected to go this far or win state. I’m only 15 years old. I am so happy.

Casey County’s Luke McQueen has been running for the boys’ shot put championships for a while now, and he capped his high school career by winning the indoor and outdoor state titles as a senior.

McQueen, who will throw for Western Kentucky next year, threw a best throw of 58-3 1/2 to win by more than 6 feet.

“I’ve become more consistent,” McQueen said. “I’ve only been spinning for a very short time and have been able to work and stay balanced.”

McQueen also shared a state title with Casey sophomore Brady Wright, who won the unified mixed shot put at 67-1 1/2.