PEARL &045; Taylor Brantley learned a lot about running at the state meet Saturday and he took home some hardware as well from the MHSAA State Track Meet in Pearl.

Brantley, a middle distance runner for Cathedral, finished third in the 800 with a time of 2:13.56. But more importantly, he learned what he has to do to compete at this level, Cathedral track coach Randy Brumfield said.

&uot;That first lap just about killed me. I was just trying to keep up and then people started passing me,&uot; Brantley said. &uot;I felt like I had nothing left. I’m going to run all summer and get ready to come back here.&uot;

Brantley held strong and was only 40 meters or so off the lead. He turned the juice up

&uot;He had some kick left and caught up some,&uot; Brumfield said. &uot;If he had started going a little earlier he might have caught second.&uot;

Brantley’s been known as a closer this season, running down the leaders at the end of races. Now he just has to work on staying close enough to run all of them down.

&uot;As a sophomore, this is a great result for him,&uot; Brumfield said. &uot;He’s going to be back next year and do some great things.&uot;

Brantley had a strong day, but Cathedral’s other runner at the state meet fell short of her goals. Claire Kenda didn’t meet her expectations for the meet.

She ran a 6:39.46 in the 1,600, not far off her best time of the year. Unfortunately, that put her in eighth place in the event.

&uot;She’ll be back next year and fully devoted to track,&uot; Brumfield said. &uot;She made some strides this year, but I think we can get some great things from her next year.&uot;