Owen Fulford, CAK, won the 2026 Division II-A boys decathlon May 13-14 in Nashville.
BY JESSE SMITHEY
One swift search through the TSSAA historical database will show you one last name that’s synonymous with CAK’s boys track & field success.
Fulford.
And that family’s legacy of athletics only strengthened this week.
Owen Fulford, a senior at CAK, won the 2026 TSSAA Division II-A boys decathlon on Thursday at Franklin Road Academy in Nashville.
His 6,246 points finished ahead of Franklin Grace’s Toby Sarnacke (5,985) in the 20-man field.
Going into the final day, Fulford trailed Sarnacke by more than 200 points.
But after posting a 14.56 in the 110 hurdles, Fulford made up ground.
“Going into the 10th event, the 1500, I had still not led once,” Fulford told 5Star Preps. “I knew I had to beat (Sarnacke) by at least 10 seconds to win.
“Me and my teammates (Baker Sterchi, Luke Hayes) stuck to our game plan and stayed together to help pace each other, and we were able to dig deep enough to win by over a minute.”
Garza Law is the proud sponsor of 5Star Preps’ 2026 TSSAA Spring Fling state championship coverage May 19-22 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Gabel Fulford, the oldest of Owen Fulford’s brothers, won the 2019 Division II-A decathlon, as well as 110-meter hurdles. Then came Ethan Fulford, who won the TSSAA Division II-A state championships twice (2021, 2022) in the 110 high hurdles, as well as a 2021 championship in the 300 low hurdles.
Silas Fulford won a Division II-A pole vault championship in 2023.
Owen etched his first and his last names in the CAK and TSSAA history books with his decathlon win this week.
“First, I want to thank God, because at this point last year, I wasn’t sure if I was going to compete again, must less do a decathlon, due to injury,” Owen Fulford said.
“It took months of hard work and trust in God to get back to this point to be able to compete.”