D2 West Region Meet Review
By the end of this past week, all the AAA, A-AA, and D2 sectionals were to be completed and the stage set for who is making the trip to Murfreesboro. And by Friday, most divisions were complete. The west and middle D2 were slated for running finals Friday. And with luck being the way it goes, the forecast called for storms to hit later that evening, likely at the end of the meet. But again, luck sometimes can bring its ugly head into the picture and just so it can have its way with all of us.
First of all, traffic around the Memphis area is less than desirable after the four o'clock hour on Fridays, especially if you decide to use the interstate (which lately is more of a parking lot). So getting to the site was a chore at best. But most were there on time. Good to go now. A test fire of the timing system failed. Ok, try it again. Failed again. And again. Bobby Alston, who probably has seen every nerve racking problem with these very expensive and finicky timing systems, was staring at the computer system saying he's never seen this before. Alright, never a good sign. With a lot of scrambling and testing, it was finally working. Then it failed again. By then, the Kent Austel (Briarcrest coach) had offered to get their system brought out... remember the traffic comment earlier? Well, two of the most traveled roads in the area are the only two roads between Briarcrest High School and Memphis University School. Ugly luck again. Anyways, long story short, after about an hour or so, the car pulled up from Briarcrest and the pelican case with the camera, the laptops, and the silver cases with all the equipment was unloaded like a classic spy movie swapping out secret documents... ok, a little side tracked on the story, but bottom line everything was back up and running.
The field events and the 3200 were completed earlier in the week. Pierce Rose (MUS) was the top finisher in the 3200 and for the girls, Laura Lys Shallows (SAA, 11:33.25) took top honors by a storm (I know, I just couldn't resist) in front of runner up 8th grader Loral Winn (BCS, 11:53.68).
Some of the top performances in the field events included a very closely contested long jump among the girls. Jordan Shackleford (ECS) and Martha Kay Williams (St. Mary's) were only a quarter of an inch apart when the sand settled and the tape reeled in. Jordan won in 17-2.50 with Martha Kay just next to her with 17-2.25. Not sure how close you can come, but that was about the closest possible in this event. Jordan won the Pentathlon the week before, so she's already racking up points for the ECS girls. And to add to that, Jordan decided to give the pole vault a try and cleared 8 feet to get third and also a PR for her in this event. The vaulting event was won by St. George's senior athlete, Hallie Gillam with a 10-1 vault that puts her in the top five for the state in D2. On the boys side, the vaulting was won by Jack Heathcott of MUS with a 12-3 jump that got him the win over SBA's Easton Williams (12-0).
Marc Wilhite of BCS won the high jump with 6-4 but has cleared 6-8 to keep him at the top of the Division 2 rankings for the event. He comes into state tied for the top seed, so I would keep an eye on the senior this week. Marc also won the long jump with 20-9.25 which was also in a tight match to runner up Fredrick Douglas (CBHS) who leaped 20-7.0. Marc's teammate, Daniel Tell, was just behind the top two with a 20-6.5 and St. George's Chazz Simmons was fourth with 20-6.25. That's some pretty closely measured jumps! Antoinette Lewis of Harding Academy threw the shot 36-9 to get into the top 3 across the state for D2 girls -- both for ranking and seed coming into the state meet. On the discus side, Morgan Hunt (BCS) wins with a 112-5 throw and comes into state seeded on the top against a very strong field.
Now back to the Friday events.... the 4x800 was under way with MUS and ECS taking the top spots for the boys and girls respectively. Most of you already know that a 8:15.95 by the MUS guys has been a jog and they come into the state meet having run some of the fastest times in the nation. If the team is healthy, we could see one heck of a race at Murfreesboro -- again! With the timing problems causing a late start, you could see people starting to check the sky and more people sharing their weather radar pictures on their smart phones as the events rolled along. The hurdles came up and Jordan Shackleford won for the girls adding more points to her weekly total. This young -- only a sophomore -- is certainly one talented athlete and a lot of fun to watch. Walter Pate of CBHS was the fastest hurdler for the boys taking the 110's in 14.61 and also the 300's with a time of 40.34. Walter said he got beat at state in the hurdles last year but doesn't want that to happen again. We'll have to see, there is some tough competition in the hurdles this season.
To some, this was a bit of a surprise, but those from the area know that that Calvin Austin III is one fast youngster. With MUS's Chris Davis out for the season with a broken foot, it was a tough call to see who was going to be the dominant sprinter coming into this meet. Calvin didn't skip a beat as he lead his team to a rousing come from behind finish in the 4x200 relay and also took the top spots in the 100 and 200. With a hip pointer earlier in the season, Calvin's season was an iffy one at best. But just like his opponents, that is clearly behind him now!
When the girls 1600 was lined up, the clouds started looking really ominous. But the race went off without a hitch. The boys first heat went on. The boys second heat got going and some rain started coming down. Once the boys mile, won by Pierce Rose (MUS in 4:25.11) just head of BCS's Clay Austell (4:29.87), the thunder cracked and the dreaded storm delay was on us. Let's see, that was around 7:20 or so... just about the time the meet was supposed to be close to wrapping up. That wasn't going to happen this day. A couple of hours later, another crack of thunder signaled another 30 minute delay. But after that, it just was raining and no lightning in the area so the meet started back up.
The meet had to get finished. The deadline was that Friday and with graduations and other events slated for Saturday, getting it in that evening was the only option. So... the call to start was given, the officials got to their exchange zones, the teams warmed up -- again -- and the gun went off for the start of the rest of the meet.. the 4x100 was run in a rain slicked track with nobody on the track dry. Harding Academy girls won (51.09) and Immaculate Conception as runner up (51.54) with no athlete slipping on the track and no red flags at the exchanges! The meet was back on! Since the Harding girls won the 4x100, the Harding boys had to show their stuff too with a close finish of 43.39 over MUS (43.99).
After the relay, the 400 came up and a familiar face won for the girls as the future Horned Frog Jaden Davis (Hutchison) capped her 100 win with the 400 and then later that evening a 200 win. That triple play matched what she did last year at the region meet and the state meet. Probably a hint of what is to come this week in Murfreesboro. A couple other good races to watch was the boys 800. With nationally ranked Terrell Jackson in the field, it wasn't a bit guess as to who the winner would be. With a field of athletes close to the 2 minute mark, Terrell didn't have to push too hard. Or so he thought. Deciding he would go ahead and give himself a good push (since he just won the 1600... well, several hours ago that is!) Pierce Rose felt like he had some steam left to release and went out fast and then kicked it up a bit so that Terrell had to give himself a quick finish to be given the top podium spot. After the race, Terrell mentioned that he wasn't planning on pushing at the end but was surprised at how good his teammate was running! That's what teammates are for! Pierce finished in 2:00.04 and Terrell at 1:59.35. Terrell had a bit of a tweak at the end of the 4x400, so he might be hurting by the state meet, but we all hope he's better so we can see his talents again! The girls side of the 800 was shaping up to be a pretty good race between perennial star Laura Lys Shallow who seems to always be in contention no matter what the distance, and two fairly newcomers to this meet in Ruth Wiggins and Meghan Underwood. Ruth being a California transplant who also ran cross country for Briarcrest this school year. And Meghan Underwood (SBA) who recently went low in this distance during the indoor season and was just coming around with her speed this season. Pre-race, this was a good one to watch. Post race, same thing... great race with Meghan just out kicking the group and coming in with a 2:19.58, followed by Ruth in 2:21.40 and Laura Lys third in 2:22.07. Those three happened to be the top three seeds coming into the state tournament. But all the girls at state have PR's pretty much faster than their seeds, so for the state meet -- well, just throw the numbers in the air and we'll see how they land next Thursday!
I'm not much for calling a team score in track, since it really is an individual sport... however, nothing new with MUS taking the boys team title. But something to watch... Briarcrest Christian was the runner up beating out CBHS by two points! It looks as though Kent Austell is bringing back the BCS boys to be some top contenders in the area! That's great to see! And after a couple of years of kind of limbo with their track team, Nick Dwyer of CBHS is finally bringing that program back into what it should be -- a top contender also! That is great for this areas track and field sport and I love to see it! On the girls side, long-time area Track & Field coach Bill Doss put together a team that really was strong and easily took the team title with 145 points to runner up ECS (103 points). Jenny Austell (Kent's wife) also helps with the girls team and proving that the Briarcrest program is really a family for Track & Field! I don't typically call out coaches, but all these folks are doing some good things for Track & Field in this area and that's what we want to see!
So... after the technical difficulties and the rain and storm delays, the meet finally finished up about 11:45pm... I heard a coach earlier saying we might be out on the track at 2am... well, not quite that late... but a long night and MUS group did a wonderful job of getting it in. Despite all the delays, the athletes seemed to really respond well and so many great performances... I didn't mention them all, but only for lack of time, not for lack of effort on the athletes part!
Before closing out this quick meet review, I would like to say so long to a fellow coach that has decided to close out her coaching career. After fourteen years of coaching at St. Benedict, Dianna Cervetti has decided to retire from coaching (still at the school, but just retire from coaching). In 2001, she was asked to take on the Track & Field position when the existing coach was called up to active military duty. With little track experience of her own, other than running some weekend races, she said ok and began to research and attend clinics to learn more about the sport. And she took on the task even though the school didn't have a track of their own and not knowing where practices would be held. Which meant practices were on whatever field or parking lot that was open. After a while and after getting permission from the Principals, the team starting practicing a few days a week at one of the neighboring AAA schools. Usually the team's practices were wedged into the time available between the host schools practice session and a youth track team that came in later that evening. It worked out ok. The team size for her first year was about 13 athletes. Then St. Benedict split into just a high school and built their own facilities -- with a track of their own! That was an exciting time for her and the team. So the team began to build up, started getting some successes here and there which helped it continue to grow. Having a no-cut policy for her program, a track of their own, the sign-ups for the team kept growing to around 70 or so athletes each season. She made sure she recognized kids throughout the season, even if just a simple gesture like giving out life saver candies to those athletes that stood out at a meet for things other than just the track performances. She made sure she took care of her team and no matter the talent, took care of the athletes that came out for the team. Countless athletes passed through the SBA program, some walking away with lots of life saver candies, possibly a picture of themselves competing, a pin for breaking a school record, or possibly even a slushy from Sonic on a hot day... The athletes will miss you!!
Now it's time to check the spikes, get in some last second workouts, pack your bags and head to Murfreesboro.
See you on the track... in Murfreesboro!
Coach Ted