By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
You’ve come a long way, baby!
Five years ago, Wade Maddox was hired to breathe life into a floundering Union City High School track program that last saw significant consistent success in the 1980s.
Fast forward to today, and the Golden Tornadoes are celebrating their first-ever boys’ state team championship and a fourth consecutive Top 10 girls’ finish.
Having built a commanding lead on Tuesday before inclement weather suspended competition, UC held off runner-up Tyner Academy of Chattanooga 95-83 to claim the Class 1A state team title on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University.
The Twisters, who won four gold medals on Tuesday and were bolstered by 10 bonus points awarded for two-time champion Adrian Crawford winning the state decathlon last week, solidified their overall top standing when Woodrow McKinnis finished third in the 3200-meter run after placing second in the 1600 meters on Tuesday.
D.J. Evans finished seventh in the 300-meter hurdles, and Rodney Jenkins placed seventh in the 200 meters to give Union City its final points.
“I’m absolutely thrilled for our guys and our program,” said Maddox, who directed the Tornado boys to a state runner-up showing last season and has coached 10 individual state champions during his time with the program. “I’m so proud of their focus against the level of competition they faced here, and that we had several guys who placed far better than they were seeded coming in.
“You always want to have your best efforts and performances in the most important events, and we certainly did that. Take Woodrow (McKinnis) for example. He got into the field as a wildcard and ended up finishing third in the 3200. That kind of competitiveness is all you can ask for as a coach.”
The Tornadoes’ history-making effort is unlikely to be a flash-in-the-pan occurrence either, as there are no seniors on this year’s boys’ roster, which did not lose a meet this spring when it was at full strength.
Crawford, who won two more first-place medals in this year’s version of Spring Fling after doing the same last year as a sophomore, will be joined by returning teammates Aiden Reid and Kyle Price – among others – after they also took their places on the highest podium in this year’s games.
“We want to build on this and get even more people involved,” added Maddox, who also praised the work of assistant coaches Josh Keown and Thel Taylor for their efforts in molding the Tornadoes into a unit and champions. “We always want every group to have the incentive of being a little bit better than the previous group.
“There’s been a learning curve for them as far as trying some new things since I took over. I’m still learning too, as this is the first time I’ve coached track. As long as they keep buying in and realizing that they could be a part of something special, I believe this can be a building block and not just something we do once and not do again.
“Personally, because of my age, I want them to enjoy this for a little bit. But I’ve already had several kids asking me questions about next year. I know from experience that’s a good thing as far as building and maintaining a program.”
Meanwhile, the UC girls continued to carve out their own niche on the state level, finishing in a tie for sixth place and again ranking among the Top 10 every year since 2022.
The Lady Tornadoes accumulated 41 points, getting the last five of those on Wednesday when the 4X400 relay team of Ainsley Beard, Jayla Turner, Ca’Lae Ervin, and Chloe Hubbard combined to post a program record time of 4:21.07 and finish fourth.
Union City put itself in prime position to continue its streak of state prominence on Tuesday with veteran performers Debrionna Jones and Katana Bonds producing points in two events each.
“The girls were very steady and again showed they belonged here,” Maddox said. “As with the boys, we had several who did better than they were projected to do. You can trace all that to pride and being a competitor.
“My hope is that we will continue to work hard at establishing depth with the girls’ team because that leads to more points. Our goal with them is to take the next step and get into the Top 3 and battle for a state championship.”
UCHS Principal/Athletic Director Jacob Cross smiled from afar as a spectator while basking in the success of Wednesday’s feat and predicted more good things for the Tornado track fortunes.
“Wade Maddox is a tireless worker. He takes track seriously, and he knows what he’s doing,” the Union City administrator claimed. “He’s taken these guys and girls and turned our program around in a very short period of time.
“I don’t believe you’ll see any drop-off in the future, because we have a lot of kids coming back and very few seniors in the program. He’ll no doubt be hungry for more and make sure the kids are too.”