Sophie Galloway puts the wraps on her high school track and field career with three wins and two state records at the Class 3A State Meet in Lexington Saturday.
It wasn’t a matter of whether the Marshall County senior was going to win. It was a matter of how much and what records she would set.
Galloway set a new Class 3A record in the triple jump on her first attempt. Her leap of 41-feet, 4-inches bettered her own state record of 40-07 for all classes that she established two years ago. All five of her jumps exceeded that 2019 mark with 41-07.75 the new standard in Kentucky high school athletics.
Galloway won the long jump by nearly a foot over Woodford County’s KaMari Black. Her first jump of 18-feet, 10.75 inches was Galloway’s best of the day. She fouled on her final two attempts.
The final long jump distance is the third-best in state history regardless of class. Butler’s Alexis Gibbons kept her Class 3A record of 19-09.25 set in 2016. The overall state record is 20-feet, 4-inches set by Fleming County’s Maxine Graham in 1975 – one of the oldest state track and field records.
Galloway easily won the 100-meter hurdles in 14.10 seconds, which was 1.44 seconds ahead of Anderson County’s Amiya Jenkins.
The time broke the Class 3A record of 14.29 seconds set by Shandy Boyd of Valley in 1992 and tied by Kianna Gray of North Hardin in 2014.
The only person in Kentucky high school history to run a faster 100 meters was Paducah Tilghman’s Danielle Carruthers in 1998. Her time of 14.03 remains the fastest ever run by a high school girl in the state regardless of class.
Carruthers went on to be a silver medalist in the 2011 world championships in 100-meter hurdles.
With her high school career now behind her, Galloway prepares for the next level at the University of Tennessee.
