Several Bulldogs will make regional trip
HIGH SCHOOL TRACK & FIELD/ DISTRICT 12-4A TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
By MITCH LUCAS sports@kilgorenewsherald.com

The regional track and field championship meet to be held in Denton later this month is going to have a big Kilgore flavor.

Several members of the Kilgore High School track and field team qualified this for the regional meet, to be held at the University of North Texas in Denton on April 25-26. KHS did very well in the District 12-4A Track and Field Championship at Hallsville High School this week - the top three finishers in each event are off to regionals.

"We had a good day over there," said boys track coach Phillip Lane, of the district meet. Kerry Strong coaches the KHS girls track team.

As mentioned in Wednesday's Kilgore News Herald, Tai'Shea Reese, a senior for KHS, qualified in both the long jump (an event in which she went all the way to the state meet last year) and the 100 meter dash. Samone Jones took second in the shot put (a throw of 34 feet, 7 1/2 inches) and Joe Colbert took second place in the 100 meter dash.

But Kilgore added several more regional qualifiers on Wednesday afternoon, and Reese and Colbert added to their regional events.

Reese, Brandi Johnson, Jessica Shepherd and Shae Morgan had a phenomenal day on Wednesday in the relays. They won both the 400 meter relay and the 800 meter relay. Johnson also qualified for regionals in the 300 meter hurdles, finishing second. Colbert finished second in the long jump.

Shaun Edwards will join them. He qualified for the regionals with a thirdplace finish in the high jump (a best of 6 feet, 4 inches - the winner was Henderson's Hunter Skelton, a 6-6 jump). Joel Venegas, the Bulldogs' long-distance runner, will perform at regionals, too. Venegas finished third in the 1600 meter run, a time of 4 minutes, 48.62 seconds. And KHS qualified two people for regionals in the discus: Dominique Jones, who finished second at the district meet with a best throw of 141 feet, 1 inch, and teammate Shadow Stokes, who was third with a throw of 132 feet, 7 inches.

Nacogdoches edged Marshall for the boys team title. Whitehouse won the girls team trophy.