Christian Academy of Knoxville celebrated three students signing on Feb. 5 to play college sports. Ried Estus, director of athletics, released this information:
Zander Tonkin will play football at Elon University in North Carolina. A three-year starter at CAK, Tonkin holds the record for the school’s longest field goal (51 yards). He made 24 of 30 field goal attempts and was named first-team all-state kicker in 2019.
Luke Etherton will compete in track and field at the University of Mississippi. He is a four-year member of the CAK track and field team and a four-year member of GymTek. He holds the CAK record for discus throw and is a member of the National Honor Society. In 2019, Luke took first place in the regional decathlon, 400m, discus, pole vault and 4x400m; he was all-state in 400m, pole vault, discus and decathlon.
Josh Whitaker will attend Carson-Newman University, also competing in track and field. He is the CAK record holder in pole vault (14 feet, 6 inches) and finished in fifth place at the state decathlon. In 2018, he claimed third place in the state pole vault.