KHS teams compete at W'house; MLMS wins at Jefferson
By MITCH LUCAS sports@kilgorenewsherald.com
HIGH SCHOOL TRACK & FIELD

There aren't many more tune-ups for the Kilgore High School track and field team before the District 12-4A meet.

In fact, following Thursday's Wildcat Relays at Whitehouse High School, there's only one more.

Kilgore did well in several events Thursday at Whitehouse, and has added a meet to its schedule. The KHS varsity boys (coached by Phillip Lane and Jerry Reddic) and varsity girls (coached by Kerry Strong and Davia Garrett) will compete Tuesday afternoon in a meet at Mount Pleasant. That will be the last meet before district - the district championship meet will be held at Hallsville High School, beginning April 8.

Also on Thursday, the eighth grade track and field team at Maude Laird Middle School swept both boys and girls competitions at Jefferson High School's Junior Bulldog Relays (see MLMS results below).

• Varsity boys: Lane said he felt like his team could have competed a little better, but that there were some bright spots.

Joe Colbert, a senior who has ran very well really all season, finished third in the 100 meter dash, running it in 10.92 seconds. "It was a photo finish," Lane said. "It's not as rare as you would think it is. But it was very, very close."

At the district meet in two weeks, Lane said, everything will be video-taped, just in case of the need of a photo finish.

Colbert finished second in the 200 meter dash (in 22.61 seconds), and was second in the long jump (20 feet, 11 1/4 inches). Steven Smith was fourth for KHS in the long jump(20 feet, 7 3/4 inches).

Jordan Williams, a freshman moved up to varsity recently, ran a 53-second 400 meter dash, of which Lane said he was proud. "Boy, he ran well," Lane said.

Joel Venegas finished fifth for KHS in the 3200 meter run (11 minutes, 19.4 seconds).

In the 800 meter relay for the varsity boys, Kilgore finished fifth in the time of 44.8 seconds, the team of Trevor Moon, Danny Smith, Matt Goff, and Steven Smith.

In field events, Dominique Jones was fourth in the shot put (47 feet, 9 1/2 inches). Colby Rosen finished third for Kilgore in the discus, a season-best 138 feet, 11 3/4 inches). "He's got the potential to do even better than that."

Shaun Edwards finished second in the high jump, a jump of 6 feet. Edwards finished sixth, a tie for sixth, actually, in the triple jump (39 feet, 6 /12 inches).

• Varsity girls: Senior Tai'Shea Reese was the center of attention once again, as she went over 19 feet this time in the girls long jump, an event in which she competed in the state meet in 2007.

Reese, a multi-sport athlete at KHS, jumped 19 feet, 3 1/4 inches. Her closest challenger was almost three feet behind her.

"I thought we competed very well," said coach Strong. "We set season bests in many races."

Reese finished second in the 100 meter dash (12.49 seconds, less than two hundredths of a second behind the winner, Pine Tree's Vanessa Aldridge).

The 800 meter relay showed out again. The team of Reese, Shae Morgan, Brandi Johnson and Jessica Shepherd took the event in a time of 1 minute and 44.58 seconds. The same foursome also finished third in the 400 meter relay (49.53 seconds).

In other results for the varsity girls:

- Shepherd was third in the 200 meter dash (26.57 seconds).

- Andrea Ashley was third in the high jump (4 feet, 10 inches).

- Morgan finished fourth in the 400 meter dash (1 minute, 2.92 seconds) and fifth in the triple jump (31 feet, 8 1/2 inches).

- Johnson was fifth in the 110 meter hurdles (51.08 seconds).

- Samone Jones was fourth in the shot put (30 feet, 11 1/4 inches).

• JV boys: Shadow Stokes won the discus competition for the Kilgore junior varsity boys. Stokes had a personal best 134 feet, 4 inches. "He started the year off around 110, 112, and has just gotten progressively better every week because he works at it," Lane said.

In the 200 meter dash, Robert Morgan finished third (23.72 seconds). For Kilgore in the 4X100 relay, Kilgore finished sixth in the time of 46.29 seconds (the team of Josh Medford, Nick Green, Shannon Polk and Devaron Harvey). The JV 4X200 meter relay finished fourth - 1 minute, 36.6 seconds (the team of Green, Morgan, Polk and Harvey).

In the 4X400 meter relay, Kilgore was sixth (3 minutes, 51.4 seconds), the team of Green, Polk, Morgan, and Austin Baker.

In the long jump, Polk placed fifth (18 feet, 4 1/2 inches), and Alex Portley finished sixth (18 feet, 2 3/4 inches).

Lane thanked his track assistant coach, Jerry Reddic, for his help. "He has a lot of passion and a lot of pride for our program," Lane said of Reddic, a former KHS athlete.

• MLMS boys: The Maude Laird Middle School boys track and field team rolled up 219 total points - the next-best team, Tatum, had 122.

The KHS relay teams won three times: the 400 meter relay, the 800 meter relay and the 1600 meter relay (the team of Matthew Dickey, Kaleb Brisendine, Shawn Williams and Jon Murphy).

In other MLMS boys results:

- Riley Toler won the discus for Kilgore, a throw of 113 feet, 8 inches.

- Murphy won both the 100 meter dash (11.53 seconds) and the 200 meter dash (24.4 seconds). His teammate, Davis, finished fifth in the 200 (26.4 seconds).

- Williams won the long jump (18 feet, 6 inches) and the triple jump (35 feet, 5 inches), and was second in the 100 meter dash (11.82 seconds).

- Hector Perales won the 2400 meter run (8 minutes, 28 seconds) and teammate Garcia finished third (8 minutes, 52.6 seconds). Perales also won the 1600 meter run (5 minutes, 24 seconds). Garcia was fourth (5 minutes, 41 seconds) and Orta, also of MLMS, was fifth (5:43).

- Chris Paige won the 400 meter dash (56.5 seconds) and was third in the high jump (5 feet, 4 inches). A teammate, Richardson, was fourth in the 400 (1 minute, .79 seconds). Dickey was sixth in the high jump for MLMS (4 feet, 10 inches).

- Jose Barron finished third for MLMS in the 800 meter run (2 minutes, 25.5 seconds).

- Sadat Banks was second in the 110 meter hurdles (19.94 seconds), and Hillburn, another MLMS competitor, was third (20.07 seconds). Hillburn tied for second in the 300 meter hurdles (49.8 seconds).

The MLMS boys track and field team is coached by Joe Guillory and Chad Loper, and the MLMS boys will compete in their district meet Tuesday at Marshall.

• MLMS girls: The MLMS girls, coached by J.J. Freeman and Ginger Hale, also took first in Jefferson, finishing with 172 points (16 better than Daingerfield).

There were several first-place finishes for the MLMS girls. Jessica Colbert was first in the shot put (35 feet, 8 inches). The relay team of Mykea Canada, Sierra Mitchell, LaQuasha Sheffield and Nikeyia Shackelford took first in the 400 meter relay.

Ashley Robbins was first in the 1600 meter run (6 minutes, 41.2 seconds), and Breeze Henson finished first in the 2400 meter run (10 minutes, 17 seconds).

In other performances for the MLMS girls:

- Blair Ware was second in the discus (62 feet, 3 inches) and Andrea Butler was fifth (54 feet, 9 inches).

- Shackelford was second in the long jump (14 feet, even) and Sheffield third (13 feet, 11 inches).

- Sheffield was second in the 100 meter dash (13.5 seconds) and Shackelford third (13.66).

- Abby Martinez was third in the 2400 meter run (11 minutes, 9 seconds).

- Shelby Linton finished second for MLMS in the 800 meter run (2 minutes, 49.5 seconds).

- Sinclair Mauldin was second in the 100 meter hurdles (20.26 seconds).

- The relay team of Michelle McGregor, Laci Ford, Jeranda Dennis, and Sierra Mitchell finished second in the 800 meter relay (2 minutes, .55 seconds).

- Canada, Shanique Ector, Linton and Shakiria Wheat finished third in the 1600 meter relay (4 minutes, 56.27 seconds).

- Canada finished second in the 400 meter dash (1 minute, 8.92 seconds).

- Laci Ford was second in the 200 meter dash (29.3 seconds) and teammate Ector was fourth (30.23 seconds.

- Kilgore earned a 1-2-3 finish in the 1600 meter run. Robbins won it, as mentioned before, and teammates Dulce Hernandez and Abby Martinez finished second and third, respectively. Hernandez finished in a time of 6 minutes, 42 seconds, and Martinez in a time of 6 minutes 55.3 seconds.

The MLMS girls will compete on Monday in the district meet at Marshall.