Knoxville Catholic High School continued its strong spring-sports effort with two more state championships as the Irish won in girls doubles tennis and boys track and field.
The Allen sisters, Sara and Erin, swept their way to the Class A-AA doubles championship. In track, the KCHS boys team won the Class A-AA title by a comfortable margin, with two individuals and a relay team capturing championships. The state titles marked the first ever for Knoxville Catholic in girls doubles and boys track.
Sisters Sara (left) and Erin Allen won the girls doubles tennis state crown for KCHS.
Freshman Sara and junior Erin swept a duo from Greeneville 6-1, 7-5 on May 27 at Old Fort Park in Murfreesboro to win the state title. That match followed a 6-1, 6-3 win over a Dyersburg pair in the semifinals and a 6-2, 6-2 victory over a Collegedale twosome in the quarterfinals.
In track, the KCHS boys scored 65 points as a team to finish well ahead of Stratford (51) and Christ Presbyterian Academy (50) in a 53-team field at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.
Jake Poczobut won the state high-jump championship for the Irish for the second year in a row after a leap of 6 feet, 4 inches.
Johnathan Chavez captured the 3,200-meter run state championship with a time of 9:36.62, winning by nearly a 7-second margin.
The KCHS 3,200 relay team of William Doktycz, Johnathan Chavez, Ethan Tornstrom, and Georde Goodwin won the state title for the third straight year, this time with a clocking of 8:17.26, triumphing by more than a 2-second margin.
KCHS also scored with Chavez placing second in the 1,600 run (4:32.95), Doktycz coming in second in the 800 run (1:59.18) and sixth in the 1,600 (4:40.55), Jake Renfree placing third in the 3,200 run (10:02.66), Poczobut recording a sixth-place finish in the decathlon (5,066 points), Alec Connolly taking sixth in the 400 dash (50.23), and Amari Rodgers finishing seventh in the 100 dash (11.20).
Poczobut tied for first in the high jump in the decathlon with a mark of 6-2.
The Irish 1,600 relay team scored with a seventh-place finish. ■
