Science Hill track athletes compete on national stage

High school track season ended a little over a month ago, but 10 Science Hill athletes officially closed the book on the 2026 outdoor track & field season at prestigious national meets last weekend. Caroline Hale, Emma Rhea, Kenzie Moore, Castle Baines, Mahri Layne, Rainie Hunter, Mercy McGann and Lily Tutterow all represented Science Hill at the New Balance Nationals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania last weekend. The event was held at historic Franklin Field, which boasts a capacity of 78,205 and is most known in the running community for hosting the annual Penn Relays. Hale was able to qualify for the event in the 100m hurdles and also doubled up by qualifying along with Rhea, Moore and Baines in the 4x200. Hale, who qualified for the Nike Indoor Nationals earlier this year, was thrilled to get back on the big stage. "I'm so glad that I got to go with my relay team and do it for hurdles, too," Hale said. "I got the best of both worlds." After the high school season wrapped up, Hale did some weight training and also turned her focus to acceleration work and short sprints since she would be competing in the 100m hurdles and the 200m relay without having to run the 300m hurdles. Hale fell a little short of her PR in the 100m hurdles, but still finished 54th with a time of 14.79 against a field of elite athletes. She teamed up with Rhea, Moore and Baines to post a time of 1:44.68, which was 41st fastest in the event. Hale said sharing the track with so many elite athletes while so many college coaches looked on was great motivation. "It makes me motivated to practice harder and do the offseason training I do," she said. "It was one of my goals to make it to New Balance, and I'm really grateful than I did." Hunter was also able to double up at the New Balance meet, finishing 85th in the 800m with a time of 2:14.20 before teaming up with Layne, McGann and Tutterow to finish 55th in the 4x800m with a time of 9:40.82. Meanwhile, Max Reece was able to qualify for the Nike Outdoor Track Nationals, which took place last weekend in the track & field Mecca of Eugene, Oregon. It was Reece's first experience on the national stage after limiting his competition last year to a few AAU meets. Like Franklin Field, Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon is hallowed ground for track & field athletes. "I've never been anywhere like that," Reece said. "It was crazy. It was almost the size of a football stadium, just for track. The atmosphere was great and there were so many other great athletes there that I met." Reece finished 45th out of 82 entrants in the emerging elite discus throw by posting a toss of 45.72 meters. Reece said he was also inspired by the atmosphere and the qualify of competition. "When I found out that I qualified for Nike Nationals, I was really excited to represent Tennessee and our team and our area," he said. "It's the biggest meet in the country and probably one of the nicest facilities in the country, so it was really a great experience." Lyndie Webb competed in the pole vault at the ADIDAS Track Nationals in Greensboro, North Carolina last weekend. Webb finished 11th in the unseeded national elite section with a vault of 3.05 meters. All in all, it was a great way to wrap up the current season and a nice springboard into the future. "It kind of made me realize that I am at this level, but I still have a lot of work to do," Reece said. "There are other people out there working just as hard, so I've got to keep working toward next year."