Chastity Pickett sweeps hurdles championships
Joe Whitfield
By Joe Whitfield
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ALBANY— Mission accomplished. Chastity Pickett did what she came to do. The Westover High School senior hurdler won the state championship Saturday in both the 100-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles, finishing a goal she set for herself. Earlier this week, Pickett signed a track and field letter of intent to run for Campbell University of North Carolina.
In the 100-meter hurdles Pickett finished the race in 14.27 seconds, slightly slower than she did in the preliminary on Friday. Fortunately her closest competitor, Abigail Turnball of Chapel Hill, was slightly slower as well, finishing with a time of 15.20 seconds, almost a full second behind Pickett. It was her first state championship in the 100-meter hurdles.
“Yes, this is great,” said a smiling Pickett, trying to catch her breath after the 100-meter race. “Now I have one more to go.”
The 300-meter hurdles race was more dramatic. Pickett, who won the state title in the same event last year, jumped out to a fast start and built a lead heading down the stretch. However, as the runners raced toward the finish line, Sandy Creek’s Jania Hodges moved closer and closer to Pickett. Pickett edged Hodges for the title, finishing with a time of 42.03 while Hodges finished at 42.24. Pickett improved her time in the preliminaries by .71 seconds, but Hodges made the final close from shaving off two full seconds from her run on Friday.
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