TRACK & FIELD: Tri-Cities Christian Sprinter Highlights Bearcat Invitational

BY TIM HAYES
Bristol Herald Courier
BRISTOL, Va. – As Eurenna Semper burst out of the starting blocks, opened up a large lead and left a blur down the track, a quiet murmur arose in the crowd.

“Where is TCCS?,” several onlookers asked, noting the initials on his blue track uniform.

It didn’t take them long to figure it out.

The Tri-Cities Christian School 10th-grader swept the boys 100- and 200-meter dashes in dominating fashion during Saturday afternoon’s Bearcat Invitational at Virginia High.

Semper used a fast start in the 100 and held off Virginia High’s Charlie Bradley at the finish line. He finished the event in 11.29 seconds and left several people impressed.

“I thought it went really, really well,” Semper said. “My start off the blocks was real explosive, I thought … It was really good.”

He followed that up later with an even more impressive victory in the 200-meters, when he smoked a strong field with a time of 22.85 seconds.

Semper arrived at the small private school in Blountville, Tenn., in July from Manchester, England. He was a star on the school’s fledgling, but successful, football team and has found a home in the Tri-Cities.

“It’s a really good school,” Semper said. “I feel like I’m learning a lot and making new friends.”

Virginia High comfortably won the boys team title on Saturday. Mark Waugh won the 300-meter hurdles in a meet record of 39.42 seconds.

“Before the race started my coach told me I should try to break the meet record,” Waugh said. “I came off the blocks hard and ran a good race.”

He also won the 110 hurdles and was on the victorious 4x100 relay team.

VHS has a complete team with a lot of talented sprinters, two top-notch distance runners in Brian Brillhart and Kevin Derr and many other athletes who can score points.

“We try to push each other in practice,” Waugh said. “Jack Quesenberry [who won the 800-meter run] is usually the main pusher of the teammates.”

Patrick Henry won the girls team title.

Meanwhile, Semper was greeted by several well-wishers after leaving the track victorious.

“This was a fun environment,” he said.