SHS boys place third

Sikeston's Tommie Strong and New Madrid County Central's Antiwaan Smoot run neck-and-neck.

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston boys track and field team had many standout performances and overall performed as well as expected during Saturday's Class 3, District 1 meet at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium.

The Bulldogs came up short in the team standings to defending state champion Potosi, which dominated the distance events, on its way to the team championship with 134 points. The Bulldogs wound up in third place with 107 points, just 2.5 points behind runnerup Farmington.

Sikeston coach Jerry Dement was pleased with how the day went.

"The weather and the facility were wonderful -- I thought we had a really good day on both the boys and girls side," said Dement. "I thought our facility held up well for our first time hosting the district meet. Everything went smooth and we had a lot of really good performances."

In district meets, the top four placers qualify for next Saturday's sectional at Farmington.

Sikeston's Eli Jackson finished third in the long jump.

Sikeston's only winner of the day was the 4 x 200 meter relay team comprised of Brandon Washington, Tommie Strong, Dominic Fondon and David Stovall with a winning time of 1:30.67, a season best.

Washington and Strong both qualified in the 100 meter dash, finishing second and fourth respectively. The two also qualified in the 200 meter dash, with Strong taking third and Washington fourth.

They also ran legs on the third place 4 x 100 meter relay, along with Eli Jackson and Dominique McCray.

"I thought all our relays ran well -- Washington and Strong ran four races apiece -- and also had to run two other races in preliminaries -- I thought they ran really well," said Dement.

Stovall qualified in the 400 with a second place run of 51.56. Stovall also ran a leg on Sikeston's 4 x 400 relay team which took second place. Others on the relay were Gavilan Bland, Brandon Wright and Ismail Johnson.

Sikeston's Chasman Herrion finished third in the 100 meters.

In the field events, Sikeston sophomores Fondon and Demetrius Jackson placed second and third respectively in the triple jump, both setting season high leaps. Fondon jumped 44-10.5, which was first place all day until Farmington's Travis Ribbing eclipsed the mark on his final jump of the day at 45-4. Jackson jumped 44-9.

Ribbing was the district meet points winner, taking first in four different events in the 100, 200, long and triple jumps to score 40 points by himself.

Sikeston's Eli Jackson, a freshman, and Mark Williamson took third and fourth respectively in the long jump to qualify for sectionals.

Senior Salamar Cox took second in the shot put with a season best throw of 51-3.25.

Sikeston's A.J. Vanover qualified in the discus with a toss of 131-6.5 to finish fourth.

Sikeston qualified athletes to the sectional in 10 different events which tied them with Farmington. Potosi, despite the lopsided win in the team standings, only qualified athletes in seven different events.

The Trojans had the market cornered in the distance races, placing in the top five in the 3,200 meter run, the top four in the 1,600 run and the top two in the 800 run. They also won the 4 x 800 meter relay.

Locally, NMCC's Antiwaan Smoot qualified in the 100 and 200 meter dashes by taking third and second place respectively.

NMCC finished in 10th place in the team standings with 30 points.

On the girls side, Sikeston took seventh place as a team with 40 points. Festus won the meet by a landslide with a whopping 172 points. Ste. Genevieve took second with 101 points.

Sikeston's Chasman Herrion qualified in the 100 meter dash by taking third. She also ran a leg on the first place 4 x 200 meter relay with a season-best time of 1:47.65. Also on the team was Michel'le Flye, Lashawna Turner and Willa Triblett.

Turner, Triblett, Flye and Ebony Banks ran on the 4 x 400 meter relay and qualified with a fourth place finish in that event with a season-best time of 4:21.94.

Teah Atkinson qualified in the triple jump with a third-place leap of 33-0 1/2.

According to Dement, Sikeston's only mistake of the day was on the girls 4 x 100 meter relay team when a dropped baton cost the group a chance at qualifying. They were seeded first in the event.

"I thought our kids competed as well as we possibly could," said Dement. "We made one mistake all day between the boys and girls. We performed about as well as we could. In most instances we had our season best performances or exceeded our seeding. I was pleased with both boys and girls. We had some kids get some PR's and got some big points for us. This has been a hard-working bunch all year. They're dedicated and it's paid off for them."

Locally, Dexter's girls placed ninth with 34 points. NMCC was finished in 12th place with 15 points.

NMCC's J'Kara Collins qualified in the 100 meter dash with a fourth place finish. Teammate Terra Tucker placed fourth in the 100 meter hurdles.

Dexter's Sammy Waldner qualified in the 300 hurdles with a fourth place finish.

The Lady Bearcats' had a good day in the relay events, placing second in the 4 x 800, third in the 4 x 400 and fourth in the 4 x 100.

TRACK AND FIELD

Class 3, District 1

Girls Team Standings

Girls 100 Meter Dash

Girls 3200 Meter Run

Girls Pole Vault

Boys Team Standings

Boys 100 Meter Dash

Boys 800 Meter Run

Boys 4x100 Meter Relay

Boys 4x400 Meter Relay