The photo finish camera was set up, athletes all over the track warming up for their events, the sun shining and hardly a breeze in the air. A Friday afternoon and a perfect day for a track meet. However, by the time Friday’s events started, the Memphis area Section 4 track & field meet had their field events and prelims. And – not surprising on this super fast University of Memphis track - we witnessed 25 national elite marks posted during those early first couple days of the Section 4 championships. Three days of Track & Field showcasing the best in High School athletics in the greater Memphis area.
Tuesday field events started off very strong with Kayla Parker of White Station leading the Long Jump with 18-6.25. Jacobie Richmond was able to come in at second with a jump of 17-10.25 to give Craigmont their first points of the meet. Those points started what was going to be a tightly packed race for meet champion, but more on that later. A very tight battle in the triple jump with three 44’ plus jumps for the boys that put a first place medal on Malcolm Terry (Brighton, 44-10.5), second went to Kordarious Travis (Bolton, 44-2.5) and just a quarter of an inch less was Cedric Williams of Munford. Adria Butler (Central, 36-7.5) and Portia Mcmanis (Bolton, 36-3.5) battled it out for first and second in the girls triple. And with Coach Myers covering the event, you could be on the other side of the track and know how far they jumped! Thank you Coach, it’s great to watch the long or triple and actually have the official let everyone know clearly what the athlete jumped! Get your throat lozenges ready, we want to hear you at State too!
The field events have a unique feel about them, especially the shot, discus, triple and long. Those four events give you one thing you don’t get in most competitions – the “do over”. Well, it’s really more like you get to have 3 or 4 jumps but if you look at one way, it’s the ultimate advantage for a sporting event. You walk up to the ring (discus/shot) or board (long/triple) make your first attempt and if it isn’t that great (or even if it is), you have the best possible situations for a competition… you get to do it again! You know how you did, what you did wrong or what you did right and then you get to do it again. Granted, it’s not really a do-over, but if you look at it closely and have the right attitude about it, you can make it your do-over and do better on the second attempt… or third attempt. How sweet is that! Or you could get bummed out and down on yourself and do worse on the next attempts… now really, which would you rather do? And then if you look at the pole vault and high jump – in those events, if you make a height, you raise the bar and make the next one. You do well, you get rewarded and you get to be better every time you run up to the bar – better, better, better… the farther you go in the competition, the better you are. Now that is immediate gratification at its finest!
Anyways, back to the events. Do you know who Jacob Shaheen, Alex Brewer, and Keenan Enis are? Ask a Houston fan and they’ll tell you they’re the first, second and third place finishers for the Pole Vault (14-0, 13-0, 13-0 respectively). The pole vault pads will be warm around 5pm Thursday, as will the competition. A 1-2-3 sweep by Houston boys, a tough accomplishment, not easily matched, and yet, for Houston boys, it was matched again in the Discus. Hunter Harrison (176-11), Wade Wells (159-03), and Sam Kempka (140-06) were able to back up the vaulters with a second 1-2-3 sweep. Hunter will be on the way to Murfreesboro knowing he has the States’ best throw so far (183-0) and a target on him by all the other throwers in the state! This senior has easily bettered his State title throw from last year, but this is Track & Field, and only time will tell if he can defend his title in Murfreesboro on Friday. Wow, even my heart rate climbs when I think of all this!
Last year there were some super performances in the High Jump for both boys and girls at State. But a lot of the top jumpers have graduated in the boys division, so that makes for a wide open event. For the girls this year though, Jacobie Richmond will not be defending her title as she suffered some problems during the high jump and no heighted. Rest assured though, no major problems and she’ll help her team on the 4x100 relay and long jump at state. Darraugh May of Ridgeway will lead the Memphis area group coming in with a 5-4 jump. Arlington leaper, Allen Deberry bested the field with a leap of 6-5 and will look to go even higher next week. Adria Butler of Central, State runner up last year in the triple, will head to Murfreesboro with a seed jump of 36-7.5. That mark is 7.5 inches longer than her best at State last year. Eleven thirty Thursday is a good time to come by the triple jump pit and watch how she does this year.
Girls Shot was a close one on the top too, with Overton High senior, Cortrice Golden posting a 36-7 toss and getting by Bolton’s Kira Curry by only 7 inches. In perspective, seven inches is about the size of someones hand! Boys shot, and I’m saying it again, Houston had a mini-sweep by taking first and second (Wade Wells at 53-3 and Hunter Harrison at 51-5) over Munford duo of Tyler Gray (48-6) and D’Marious Exum (47-2). So Munford had their say in a sweep also. Those four take the ride to Murfreesboro next week too.
Now I’m fast forwarding to Friday evening. The numbers for this meet are impressive. No, really, they are very impressive! Sixty seven National Elites. Two hundred and twenty two Tennessee Elites. Let see, for the boys: three in the 100M dash, two in the 110 hurdles, three in the 1600… oh heck, no way I can list them here – look up on the TN mile split site and see for yourself. But I should mention one that made the list – ELEVEN national elites in the boys 4x20 (yes, counting prelims and all that). Yes, 11! And of course: STATE RECORD performance for Southwind Boys 4 x200 relay! Domnique Leake, Deadrick Jones, Cedric Miller and Jimmy Keys made up the team that burnt up an already blazing race! Whitehaven in fourth with 1:28.66, Overton third in 1:28.26, White Station runner up in 1:27.26 and then Southwind with their record performance of 1:26.01! Even if you know nothing about track, that race was something to witness. The first two legs had all teams just about neck and neck, when Southwinds third leg took over, the stagger was easier to identify the leaders (well, they were so close it wasn’t exactly easy), once the anchor (Jimmy) got the baton, that team was flying to the finish. When the timer announced the time, an already loud and exciting race just hit decibel levels high enough to hear at 7900 East Shelby Drive!
The 300 Hurdles was an interesting race to watch. Molefi Maat of Cordova breezed through the prelims with a mediocre 40.06 (middle of the pack performance) but came out in the finals on Friday to blister the hurdles in a super fast 38.52 – now a state best time. Myia Johnson (Ridgeway) also blistered the field posting a 44.17 time and putting her at runner up with the best time in the state this year. Very nice to carry those times into the State Championships next week!
The boys sprint races are usually dominated by Houston favorite Noah Arrindell, however, he has had some minor injury issues and took some rest time and so he was still fast, not at the top on every race. Noah took second in the 100 (10.79) to Jimmy Keys (10.76) dropped back in the 200M to 5th overall. The 200 was won by Molefi Maat (21.68) and Denzel Robinson at second (21.75), both of Cordova. And as Noah came in 4th in the 400 (50.03), Brian Gentry of Arlington (49.87) took the opportunity to take this race by storm and claim first place in classic 400M race style! A tight race from start to finish, separating 4th to 1st place by only 0.16 of a second! Second place was captured by White Station senior Marlon Malbrough and third by Brandon Gardner of Cordova with a 49.95. You expect the best races to be during this highly competitive meet, but really, these are some heart pounding performances! Brian’s name doesn’t come up a lot in the 400 as the winner, but at the Collierville relays a few weeks ago, he posted a fast 2:01 in the 800, so Brian certainly knows when to turn on the burners.
The 3200 race saw some familiar faces in Alden Dixen of Arlington and Chelsey Ladd of Dyer County. However, their races themselves had some nice twists. Chelsey took the lead in the first couple of laps of the girls race and she just kept on going and going. By the end, she won by about 37 seconds over second place finisher Sarah Smith of Collierville. The remaining two state qualifiers included Emma Reed (12:07.06 Houston) and Danielle Myers (12:10.01 Collierville). Coming in a heartbreaking fifth (one and a half second back) was White Station freshman Savannah Jordan. It’s a tough cut off of only 4 to state, but that’s just the excitement that track and field brings to every meet. Savannah however made it up in the 1600 by out-sprinting her competition to get a third (5:31.80) and automatically qualify along with first place finisher Chelsea Ladd (again! 5:20.63), second place Emma Reed (Houston, 5:28.31) and fourth place Sarah Smith of Collierville (5:33.90). A close race for 4 laps of the track!
There were a couple of surprises in some of the relays Friday, with Southwind girls taking first in the 4x200 but not taking first in the 4x100. Craigmont took the honors in the 4x100 with a 48.16 over Central (48.35) and then Southwind (48.65) and Whitehaven finishing up the automatic qualifiers with 48.74. Southwind has typically swept the relays all season, but I would expect them to rebound quickly and show up at State with a vengeance – those girls don’t like to lose.
Craigmont, not necessarily being dominate all year (of course, not slouches by any means though) were suddenly getting some high level performances from their girls. The 4x800 ran 9:55.53 taking first, getting a second in the 4x200, third in the 400 (Tamira Wilson 56.97), and then finished the night with a solid – and dominate – first in the 4x400 in 3:58.22. Prior to that race, Craigmont was ten points behind leading Central. That finish put them in a tie with Central for the overall first place title with 85 points. That’s what makes the 4x400 so exciting, so many meets come down to that race and in this case, Craigmont had to win just to tie. Wow. This was a very big WOW…. Central 85, Craigmont 85, Southwind 84, Houston 80. How close can you get!
The boys side was just a bit different. Throughout the year, the Houston boys were pretty dominant in all the meets they entered by having great field events and a strong group of runners, sprints and distance. Houston won this meet by 50 points over second place Central (144 to 84) and proved that they are still a dominate force in this final meet before the State Championships. Looks like the trip to Murfreesboro will be a fun one…. Coach Harmon… it’s going to be a restless week for you!
The regular season is over. The most important meet of the year starts Monday. It’s time to focus. It’s time to concentrate. Eat right. Get some sleep. Don’t do anything foolish. Keep your muscles loose and warm. Visualize your best performances. Focus. Really Focus. Really, Really Focus. Good luck to all the athletes making the trip to Murfreesboro. And remember… next week is a very big stage for Track & Field. Keep your focus!