Local athletes turn out to show support at Trinity and Tyson Gay Invitational
“Trinity’s tears.”
That’s how several competitors and coaches described the spitting rain that fell for a good portion of the Trinity and Tyson Gay Invitational on a chilly Saturday at Lafayette High School.
It was the first running of the event since Trinity Gay, the 15-year-old daughter of Olympian Tyson Gay, died after being shot in the neck during an exchange of gunfire between two vehicles at Cook Out restaurant on Oct. 16. The competition, originally named to recognize the accomplishments of her father, a former standout at Lafayette, was renamed to honor Trinity’s as well.
Everyone looked up to Trinity in part because of her dad, said Lafayette’s Ayana Drake, who called Trinity her best friend. The junior said Trinity, who would have been a sophomore at Lafayette this school year, wanted nothing more than to follow in her dad’s footsteps.
“She wanted to go to the Olympics and win the gold medal for her dad,” Drake said. “She had a meaning for why she wanted to run. I feel like everyone now this season is running so much harder for her.”
“Long live Trinity” (#LLT) and “Run for Trinity” have been rallying cries for Lexington athletes this season. That unifying motto bore itself out physically; many local track-and-fielders who didn’t participate in events still turned out Saturday to show their respects for Trinity and Lafayette.
And those who did compete had a little extra motivation.
“They showed commitment,” Drake said. “If this was just any other race, they would have ran events they didn’t want to or ran like a practice, but people are really coming down here to try and win medals. Because even the medals are dedicated to her, ‘Pass the Baton.’ Anyone would do anything to win those medals.”
Lafayette Coach Crystal Washington said it meant a lot to have people turn out despite the poor conditions as well as a competing event, the Eastern Relays, happening in Louisville.
Washington has worked to keep her kids inspired in the six months that have passed since Trinity’s death. In recent weeks she’s focused on “fear,” and keeping it out of their minds as best they can.
“Just trying to get them to understand that fear can paralyze you and that you shouldn’t be afraid to go out and do your best,” Washington said. “ … Everybody has a purpose, everybody has a plan, but don’t let fear keep you from accomplishing those goals that you set for yourself.”
Bryan Station senior Jordan Hampton, whose squad won the boys’ team title, went to elementary school with Trinity and ran track with her growing up. She was a small part of his life, he said, but she’d been a part of it for as long as he could remember.
It’s been troubling for him to see the rise in gun-related violence in Lexington in recent years.
“It wakes you up. Out of anybody, Trinity Gay gets hit by a bullet that didn’t have her name on it,” Hampton said. “Just like that. That bullet could have hit anybody. It could have hit me. It could have hit you. It could have hit coach. I’ve always grown up in this city thinking we were the loveliest, greatest city on Earth. Small, everybody loves each other.
“And just to see that gun violence is actually becoming a problem in Lexington now. … We have no idea what Trinity could have become and no one will ever know. It’s just sad that that life has actually ended. You’ll never hear anything from her again all because you had some stupid beef and wanted to pull out a deadly firearm and end somebody’s life. And it didn’t even end the life it was intended to end. It’s just stupid. Really stupid.”
Trinity’s family recognized
Lafayette presented medals to Tyson Gay and Shoshana Boyd, Trinity’s mother, at midfield prior to the start of the competition at Ishmael Stadium.
“It means a lot to me cause I don’t want people to forget the type of person she was and the type of heart she had,” Gay said of the event being renamed to include his daughter. “Hopefully we can grow this meet to be bigger and bigger in the honor of her and keep it going.”
Boyd said “it does my heart good” to see Lafayette’s efforts to keep Trinity’s legacy in people’s consciousness. She and Gay hope all students, athlete or not, carry themselves positively and stay committed to their goals as Trinity was.
“I just want people to have a fair shot in life and have fun and go to school,” Gay said. “That’s what it’s all about. That’s what she was about.”
Josh Moore: 859-231-1307, @HLpreps
Trinity and Tyson Gay Invitational
Boys
Teams—1. Bryan Station 194, 2. Lafayette 108, 3. Franklin County 50, 4. Lexington Catholic 42, 5. Tates Creek 38, 6. Paul Laurence Dunbar 26, 7. Bracken County 24, 8. Western Hills.
100m—1. Maliq Trigg, Bryan Station, 11.74; 2. Dominique Price, Paul Laurence Dunbar, 11.75; 3. Prince Yeboah, Bryan Station, 11.77
200m—1. Wyatt Flick, Franklin County, 23.31; 2. Maliq Trigg, Bryan Station 24.00; 3. Jaylen Lawson, Lafayette, 24.91
400m—1. Maliq Trigg, Bryan Station, 55.29; 2. Kobie Neal, Lafayette, 55.56; 3. Henry Simon, Lexington Catholic, 57.94
800m—1. Austin Penman, Bryan Station, 2:09.93; 2. Isaiah Joy, Lafayette, 2:12.25; 3. Harrison Owens, Bryan Station, 2:15.35
1600m—1. Harrison Owens, Bryan Station, 4:46.01 2. Grant Walles, Bryan Station, 4:55.68; 3. Nate Simpson, Western Hills, 4:57.66
3200m—1. Jared Jefferson, Bracken County, 10:38.21; 2. Brandon Cox, Bracken County, 10:44.54; 3. Grant Walles, Bryan Station, 11:13.39
110m hurdles—1. Hayden Kenney, Tates Creek, 15.97; 2. Garrison Peets, Lafayette, 15.99; 3. Alonzo McCoy, Franklin County, 18.71
300m hurdles—1. Garrison Peets, Lafayette, 44.26; 2. Elijah Barnes, Bryan Station, 44.71; 3. Desean Dunn, Bryan Station, 49.46
4x100m relay—1. Bryan Station (Green, Jones, Lewis, Yeboah) 47.30; 2. Lafayette (Christopher, Cooper, Hoagland, Lawson) 48.10; 3. Franklin County (Graves, McCoy, McMillan, Simmons) 50.57
4x200m relay—1. Bryan Station (Franklin, Green, Jones, Neal Jr.) 1:39.27; 2. Lafayette (Christopher, Cooper, Hoagland, Lawson) 1:39.44; 3. Lexington Catholic (Callahan, Garcia, Griese, Patrick) 1:41.72
4x400m relay—1. Lafayette (Christopher, Cooper, Lawson, Neal) 4:12.19
4x800m relay—1. Lafayette (Chavez, DeRossett, Ladd, Morrison) 9:17.30; 2. Bryan Station (Murray, Owens, Penman, Sharpe) 10:05.94; 3. Franklin County (Cruz, Fern, Oerther, Rebolledo)
High jump—1. Patrick Kelly, Tates Creek, 5-8; 2. Alex Pickett, Bryan Station, 5-6; 3. Christian Lewis, Bryan Station, 5-0
Pole vault—1. Jordan Hampton, Bryan Station, 10-6
Long jump—1. William Wharton, Lafayette, 19-8.25; 2. Moses Botaka, Bryan Station, 19-8; 3. Christian Lewis, Bryan Station, 19-4
Triple jump—1. Moses Botaka, Bryan Station, 39-1; 2. Alex Pickett, Bryan Station, 37-2; 3. Ray Smoot, Lexington Catholic, 35-0
Shot put—1. D’mari Byrd, Tates Creek, 40-7; 2. Kaelen Whiteside, Paul Laurence Dunbar, 40-4; 3. TreJwan Scott, Bryan Station, 40-2
Discus—1. Kaelen Whiteside, Paul Laurence Dunbar, 110-4; 2. D’mari Byrd, Tates Creek, 103-5; 3. Matthew Wade, Franklin County, 100-0.5
Girls
Teams—1. Owensboro 157, t2. Bryan Station 94, t2. Lafayette 94, 4. Lexington Catholic 54, 5. Tates Creek 48, 6. Western Hills 19, 7. Franklin County, 8. Paul Laurence Dunbar 1.
100m—1. Naturi Robinson, Tates Creek, 13.01; 2. Katelyn Lennon, Lexington Catholic, 13.02; 3. DaKorria Winstead, Owensboro, 13.13
200m—1. Claire Ivy, Lexington Catholic, 26.70; 2. Maria Sharp, Lexington Catholic, 28.89; 3. Aairiona Hayden-Ransom, Lafayette, 33.55
400m—1. Jaleah Tutt, Owensboro, 1:01.02; 2. Rebecca Cook, 1:01.03; 3. Lamiah Campbell, Lafayette, 1:05.54
800m—1. Breanna Alderton, Owensboro, 2:29.58; 2. Da’Jharriah Davis, Bryan Station, 2:57.43; 3. Bridgette Bender, Lafayette, 2:59.24
1600m—1. Breanna Alderton, Owensboro, 5:10.11; 2. Molly Stigers, Franklin County, 5:32.89; 3. Grace Banahan, Lexington Catholic, 5:59.44
3200m—1. Breanna Alderton, Owensboro, 12:12.33; 2. Emma Boebinger, Western Hills, 13:50.25; 3. Brendly Nathaniel, Bryan Station, 14:50.84
110m hurdles—1. Maya Homer, Lafayette, 17.96; 2. Jaya Emanuel, Owensboro, 19.03; 3. Isabella Soza, Owensboro, 19.20
300m hurdles—1. Maya Homer, Lafayette, 51.92; 2. Jaya Emanuel, Owensboro, 55.31; 3. Olivia Hall, Lexington Catholic, 55.33
4x100m relay—1. Owensboro (Greer, Soza, Taylor, Winstead) 52.60; 2. Lafayette (Homer, Drake, Franklin, Bernard) 55.62; 3. Bryan Station (Gabriel, Hardin, Walker, Washington) 57.83
4x200m relay—1. Lafayette (Drake, Campbell, Reece, Hayden-Ransom) 1:54.26; 2. Bryan Station (Davis, Dunn, Gabriel, Rojas) 2:01.55
4x400m relay—1. Lafayette (Campbell, Drake, Homer, Hayden-Ransom) 4:32.06; 2. Owensboro (Cannon, Emanuel, Soza, Winstead) 4:55.65
4x800m relay—1. Tates Creek (Collins, Payton, Wearren, Winn) 11:01.03; 2. Owensboro (Alderton, Cannon, Hatfield, Keeley) 11:49.93; 3. Lafayette (Bell, Bender, Grospitch, Lin) 12:22.93
High jump—1. Elaiyah Badger, Owensboro, 4-8; 2. Jaleah Tutt, Owensboro, 4-6; 3. Claire Darland, Tates Creek, 4-6
Pole vault—No entries
Long jump—1. Kyrah Hardin, Bryan Station, 14-5.25; 2. Caroline Bernard, Lafayette, 14-4; 3. Maya Jazdzewski, Lexington Catholic, 13-11.75
Triple jump—1. Nave Winn, Tates Creek, 31-7.5; 2. Kyrah Hardin, Bryan Station, 29-10.5; 3. Rhiona Marshall, Bryan Station, 28-8.5
Shot put—1. Victoria Whitlock, Owensboro, 32-9; 2. Tantalissia Champs, Bryan Station, 31-0; 3. Danae Cox, Bryan Station, 26-3
Discus—1. Tantalissia Champs, Bryan Station, 103-5; 2. Victoria Whitlock, Owensboro, 93-10; 3. Claire Skubik-Peplaski, Bryan Station, 76-5
This story was originally published April 22, 2017 at 4:25 PM with the headline "Local athletes turn out to show support at Trinity and Tyson Gay Invitational."