By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
A handful of Union City High School track athletes shined in the program’s first official meet of the spring at Calloway County High School Tuesday.
The Tornadoes had top finishers in both the field and running events from more than 500 individual participants that included over a dozen teams from Tennessee and Kentucky.
Both the UC High School and Middle School soccer teams came up short, though, in their respective matches, the prep squad dropping a contest vs. Gibson County via penalty kicks, while the MS team was beaten 3-1 at McKenzie.
HIGH SCHOOL TRACK
Several Twisters shine at Calloway Co.
Destiny Kenton placed first in girls’ shot and Taylan Tribble finished first in the discus toss to headline the Tornado performers in the field events.
Justyn Johnson was second in shot put.
In the running events, BJ Frankum placed second in the mile and first in the 800 in his specific heat as a large number of participants forced meet organizers to have two large heats in that event. Ben Martinek placed third in 800.
The running events saw Billy Rae Hill and Jaheim Caesar finish first and second, respectively, in their 400 heats. The girls 4×100 relay team came in second in their heat.
UCHS athletes will participate in the Invitational of the South at Murray State University on Saturday.
HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER
GC 0, UC 0 (GC wins 3-0 in PKs)
The contest was tied after regulation and two overtime halves before the visiting Pioneers scored on three penalty kicks while shutting out Union City.
The Tornadoes controlled play for the most part, getting off 24 overall shots to just 12 for Gibson County. Brad Schlager had six of those attempts, as did teammate Josh Sills, with a combined nine of those being stopped on goal.
“We did not execute when we had a chance to score,” UC head coach John Graham said.
“Our defense did do well defending the long ball, though.”
Kaleb Craig had three saves in goal for the Twisters in regulation.
Now 1-2 on the season, Union City will host Obion Central on Thursday at 5:30.
MIDDLE SCHOOL SOCCER
McKenzie 3, UC 1
The Tornadoes spotted the host team a 2-0 first half lead and, despite a better effort after the intermission, couldn’t avoid their first loss of the season after four wins.
Hector Corona had Union City’s only goal, an unassisted score at the 13-minute mark of the second half.
“We played much better in the second half,” said Travis VanHooser, who coached the UC squad Tuesday. Miguel (Sanchez-Cruz) did a great job controlling the middle of the field and I thought both Hector (Corona) and Issac (Mack) did a great job pressuring the defense. Amari (Bonds) came out of the goal to make a good save, too.”
Union City will host Paris Inman Thursday.