Athens dominates way to second straight title at D4 T&F
By: Brian Fees | Towanda Daily Review | May 20, 2018 | Photo courtesy Brian Fees
There is only one word to describe the Athens girls at the District 4 Track and Field Championships. Dominant.
The Wildcats won their second straight District 4 title, edging Loyalsock 91-87. Mt. Carmel was third at 74, Warrior Run and Danville each had 45 to tie for fourth. Milton was sixth at 43, followed by Lewisburg and Mifflinburg, Bloomsburg and Central Columbia and Southern Columbia.
The Wildcats also broke a pair of district records, as Breana Gambrell broke the long jump record on Thursday and Breana and Ariana Gambrell, Rachel Hutchison and Emily Lunger broke the 4x100 record.
Hutchison broke the school record in the 300 hurdles and on Thursday Lunger broke the high jump school record.
The Wildcats ‘Fantastic Four’ combined for eight gold medals at districts.
“It is very special,” Athens coach Ben Gambrell said of winning back-to-back district titles. In fact it reminds me of 2009 and 2010 when the boys did the exact same thing. It is special, but it’s mainly special for the girls and for the work they put in and the coaches, because they put a lot of time and effort in.
“Being the AA champion, it means a lot to us.”
While all the records and gold medals are impressive, it’s not a shock to Ben Gambrell.
“It’s extremely special,” he said. “It says something about their work ethic and about what the coaches bring to the table and how they challenge them. It says how they listen to us and they allow us to coach them and they push themselves and push each other. It’s no surprise.”
A year ago Athens dropped the baton in the 4x100 relay.
On Saturday the four broke the district and school records with a 48.42 to dominate the race.
“I am very excited, we worked so hard for it,” Lunger said. “Rachel and Ariana do a good job of making up the stagger and when it gets to me we have a little lead, but then when Breana gets it, no chance.”
As soon as the baton hit Breana Gambrell’s hands, the girls knew it was over.
“Because of what happened last year, when I got the baton in Breana’s hands, I just screamed and she heard me all the way down the track,” Lunger said. ‘It was definitely perfect.”
Having last year’s state runner-up as the anchor helps the girls know the race is over when she gets the baton.
“As soon as Breana gets the handoff, I am just happy,” Ariana Gambrell said.
“You kind of watch and it’s, ‘yeah, she’s gone,” Hutchison said.
After last year, the girls were happy to redeem themselves this year.
“That has been on our mind all season,” Ariana Gambrell said. “About dropping it again and we did not want to do that at all. We wanted to come out here and our motto was just get the stick around.”
The girls started to feel confidence with each handoff.
“I was a little nervous in the beginning, because me and Emily had to change our steps a lot during the season and I was really thinking we’ve got to get this handoff,” Hutchison said. “Me and Ari, ours is always pretty good, once me and Emily got it, I think the confidence was good.”
The girls were happy for the redemption this year.
“It feels really nice, especially with the relay, we dropped the baton last year, it’s nice to get back to states,” Breana Gambrell said.
For Ben Gambrell it was nice to see how the relay came back.
“They are a very tight unit, not only on the track, but in the school,” he said. “They really get along. When you have a group they will do anything for each other. That’s one thing we processed throughout the entire year and it was the learning mistake we made last year, and wow did they come back and correct that error. I like to see errors, not in that fashion, but I like to see people come back and learn from it and make themselves better.”
Now, the girls are excited to see what they can do at states next week.
“Next week is going to be amazing,” Ariana Gambrell said.
“I think because we are going to have good competition it is going to push us even faster,” Hutchison said.
And, while they are from a smaller area, the girls are ready to show what they can do against the best teams in the state.
“I think we are a force to be reckoned with honestly,” Hutchison said. “I think it’s great we come from a small town.”
“Not many people know where we are from,” Lunger said. “We say Athens and they are like, where’s that, but they’ll know, they’ll know.”
The girls would love to finish this year with a state title in the race and as a team.
“Senior year I know me and Bre want to go out with a boom and that would do it.”
While the relay missed states last year, Ariana Gambrell also missed states in the 100 hurdles, something she has thought about for the past year.
On Saturday she got her own redemption, winning the race in 15.46 to earn her first individual District 4 gold and first individual trip to states.
“It’s an amazing feeling to finally get there on my own,” Ariana Gambrell said. “I can’t express how I feel right now, just all my hard work has finally paid off.”
After last year Ariana has waited for this moment.
“It was my motivation all year to finally cross the finish line first at districts,” she said. “And, it was perfect.”
Now, Gambrell is ready for that first individual event at states.
“It’s very exciting thinking about not only what I can do, but what the whole team can do,” she said. “It’s going to be very nervewracking at first, but I think it will be a special experience.”
While Ben Gambrell is happy for all his athletes, Ariana’s win was a little extra special.
“I can’t lie, I have been tearing up and silently crying all day since Ariana crossed the finish line in the hurdles,” he said. “That was an extra special moment for her and me, because she finally cast her own shadow in front of the sun and she was able to step outside of her sister and do something special for herself. I am extremely proud of her. I am extremely proud of what she did.”
Ben was happy to see his daughter come back after the disappointment in the race last year.
“It’s a testament to the time and energy she put into it and the time and energy the coaches put into her and her letting them coach her,” Ben Gambrell said. “She left with a very salty taste in her mouth last year, with the 4x1 and with the hurdles and she wanted to atone for her sins and she did that.”
It was special for Breana Gambrell to see her younger sister win her first individual gold.
“I am so proud of her,” Breana said. “She’s been working so hard in the hurdles and this is something she really wanted.”
It was a clean sweep in the hurdles for Athens as Hutchison won the 300 hurdles in 44.75, breaking her own school record.
“I am very excited, that race was personally not my best, I know my hurdling was bad, so I didn’t expect a 44 of anything to come out of that,” she said. “I know if I keep practicing and training and stay mentally tough I know I can hopefully lower it.”
The 300 hurdles is an event that Hutchison just added this year.
“It actually started the beginning, right before the season,” Hutchison said. “I talked to my mom about it and I wanted to try something new as an individual you don’t see a lot. I knew I was hopefully going to do something good in it because of my stamina.”
Still, Hutchsion never expected times like this.
“I never really imagined that,” she said. “I was proud of myself to get out and do something new, but I never expected it to come this far.
“I am very excited to see what comes out of it. As long as I try my hardest I feel like I can do some good things.”
Athens won the 100 and 200 meters. Breana Gambrell won the 100 in 12.16 and Lunger won the 200 in 25.78. Gambrell also won the triple jump with a leap of 36-feet, 9-inches, giving her four gold medals in four events at districts, two of them district records.
“It’s really special, words can’t really describe it,” she said. “It will probably hit me later on, but it’s special.”
For Gambrell, the triple jump wasn’t her best showing, but it was good enough.
“My performance wasn’t the greatest today, but I made states, so I guess that’s all that matters,” she said. “Hopefully at states I jump good again.
After twice finishing as state runner-up in the 100 meters, freshman and junior years, Gambrell hopes maybe this is the year she can win the race at states.
“I am one of the top in the state, so hopefully it is finally the year after being so close in the past,” she said.
Gambrell hopes that the Wildcats, who took third at states as a team last year, can also compete for a team title this year.
“We are definitely in the running for it, we just have to execute and see what happens,” she said.
This year at districts was extra special for Gambrell as it was her last district meet, and she had two of her siblings, Ariana and Benny Gambrell, both competing.
“We had the whole fam here, it’s always fun with the whole fam together,” Breana said. “One last hurrah together. It was definitely memorable.”
Brian Fees is the sports editor of the Daily & Sunday Review in Towanda, PA.
