Messenger file photo by Chris McCarthy
By Chris McCarthy, Publisher/Editor
Katie Giles has picked up where she left off last fall.
Five months after winning the Class 3A state cross country championship in early November, the Glencoe High sophomore set PRs in three events on April 8 at the Oneonta track and field meet.
Competing in only her second meet this season since recovering from a knee injury suffered during basketball, Giles (pictured above) took first place in the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:50.13, then turned in a first-place time of 12:42.99 in the 3200-meter run. In addition, she finished second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:34.86. Giles is looking to qualify for the state meet in all three events at the Class 3A Section 3 Meet next Friday and Saturday (Apr. 23-24) at Fort Payne.
Giles won four gold medals, two as an individual and two in relay competition, at sectionals as an eighth grader.
“It was my first time running the 3200 and the 800 this year, and I’ve missed a few meets because of soccer games, so I was really happy. The knee was sore pretty much from overuse and the trainer had me take two weeks off from everything and did therapy, which helped a lot.”
As a four-sport athlete, Giles was not used to having any sort of down time during the school year.
“It pretty much killed me not being able to do anything, but it was the right thing to do on the long run,” she said.
Also medaling for the Yellow Jackets at the Oneonta meet were T.J. Peeples, who won the boys shot put with a throw of 42-08.00, and Kaylee Knight, who took second in the girls shot put at 28-02.00.