SHS athletes earn state track berths

Monday, May 23, 2005
Sikeston's Tyler Woodson (right) on the way to a first place in teh 110-meter hurdles.

FESTUS -- The Sikeston Bulldogs track and field team had a strong day at the Class 3, Sectional 1 meet in Festus on Saturday.

Out of 10 events they competed, the Bulldogs qualified in six different events on the boys side and of the five events the girls competed, they qualified in four of them, including three relay teams.

"We're very pleased. We think we got some quality events through to the state finals," said Sikeston track and field coach Jerry Dement. "I think, with very few exceptions, our kids competed really well and in many cases had personal bests. This is the time of year to do that. We've got a very competitive bunch of boys and girls and they're now being rewarded with a trip to the state championships. We're excited that they've qualified but now we've got some business to take care of. We're going to go up there and do the best job that we can."

The Class 3 Track and Field State Championships will be held in Jefferson City at Dwight T. Reed Stadium this Friday and Saturday.

Sikeston's top performer in the sectional meet was once again senior Felante Larry, who qualified in four different events -- taking first in the triple jump (45-7) and first in the 200-meter dash (22.7). He also took third in the long jump (21-5) and ran the lead leg on the fourth place 4 x 100 meter relay (43.96), which included senior Brandon Williams and freshmen Brandon Washington and Bryan Branion.

Sikeston's high-flying Felante Larry qualified for state in four events.

In the 200, Larry upset New Madrid County Central's Jeffrey McFarland, who was unbeaten in the event heading into Saturday.

"Felante's awful fast and Saturday happened to be his day," said Dement. "McFarland is a tremendous sprinter. Felante's forte is his jumps but he can also sprint too as evidenced by his performance there.

"Felante's set himself up to do a rare thing and that's score in four events.

McFarland took second (22.8), but finished in first inthe 100-meter dash (11.03) and the 400-meter dash (50.05) and ran the anchor leg on the third place 4 x 200-meter relay (1:31.60).

Also having a big day was senior hurdler Tyler Woodson, who took first in the 110 meter high hurdles (15.02) and fourth in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles (40.41). Woodson, who placed second and third at the state meet in both events last year, only started competing last week in the district meet as he has nursed a nagging hamstring injury for most of the season.

"I'm very proud of Tyler for the perseverance to fight through all the injuries that he's had this year," said Dement. "We're very pleased with him. He's well-deserving, he's put in a tremendous amount of time and effort to get himself ready. He's practiced twice a day for the last month and it all paid off Saturday. If he has another push like he had this week, he'll be a state title contender when he goes up there. We've got two kids that will be seeded very high in their respective events with Tyler and Felante. But we think anybody that we get up there can score and that's very important."

Boys that competed but didn't qualify were freshman Andre Goodwin in the high jump (6th, 5-8), Trey Stone in the pole vault, sophomore Salamar Cox in the shot put (7th, 45-10) and the 4 x 200 relay team which included Branion, Williams and freshmen Brandon Wright and Tommie Strong (6th, 1:33.20).

On the girls' side, the 4 x 800 relay team of juniors Traci Jackson, Ashley Johnson, Deneka Black and Whitney Turner broke the school record by eight seconds with a time of 10:10.58 while taking third place to qualify. The same group of girls, however, did not qualify in the 4 x 400 relay as they took sixth with a time of 4:18.40, just missing the school record by two seconds.

The 4 x 100 relay team of sophomore Jackie Nance and freshmen Martika Davis, Lashawna Turner and Chasmon Herrion took third with a time of 51.76. The same group of girls also qualified in the 4 x 200 relay with a second-place time of 1:47.32.

Herrion qualified in the open 100-meter dash with a third-place time of 12.9.

"The 4 x 800 ran well as did our other two girls relays," said Dement. "All of them competed well and we're very proud of those kids."

Locally, Dexter's Natalie Hayes qualified in the open 400-meter dash with a time of 59.92. She also ran a leg on Dexter's first place 4 x 100 relay team with a time of 50.82. Hayes did not qualify in the 200-meter dash (5th, 27.01) or the 100-meter dash (5th, 13.26).

Dexter's Mallory Kennedy qualified in the triple jump with a second-place leap of 34-6.5 but did not qualify in the long jump with a sixth-place leap of 15-10.

Also failing to qualify was the Dexter girls 4 x 800 relay as they took seventh with a time of 10:37.54.

On the boys side, NMCC's Eugene Cooper did not qualify in the 100 or 400-

meter dashes as he took eighth (11.58) and fifth (50.39) respectively.

Dexter's Levi Rawson took first in the long jump with a leap of 22-4.25 and second in the triple jump at 42-11.

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