High hopes
Track standouts ready for regionals
By MITCH LUCAS sports@kilgorenewsherald.com

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE - Kilgore High School track & field athletes were giving plenty of effort Wednesday during practice for regionals at the track next to R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium. Clockwise, from top: Tai'Shea Reese, captured in mid-flight by the lens of News Herald photographer Lester Murray, as she practiced for the long jump. Reese will also run for KHS in two relays and in the 100 meter dash. Right: Samone Jones, who will represent Kilgore in the shot put at regionals. Below: Joe Colbert, a senior who will run the 100 meter dash and compete in the long jump. Other regional qualifiers for KHS are Shae Morgan, Brandi Johnson (in two events), Jessica Shepherd, Shaun Edwards, Dominique Jones, Shadow Stokes, and alternates Andrea Ashley and Yamika Smith. Regionals begin next Friday, April 25, and are held at the University of North Texas in Denton. Kilgore track head coaches are Phillip Lane (boys) and Kerry Strong (girls).

The next few days - in fact, the next week - figures to be quite a whirlwind for the Kilgore High School track & field athletes who have qualified for regional competition.

Many of them were at the track adjacent to R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, practicing for their regional meet to be held at the University of North Texas in Denton beginning Friday, April 25. Tai'Shea Reese, Brandi Johnson and Joe Colbert each qualified for more than one event. Other qualifiers include Shae Morgan, Jessica Shepherd, Dominique Jones, Shadow Stokes, Shaun Edwards, Joel Venegas, Samone Jones, and relay team alternates Yamika Smith and Andrea Ashley. Former Kilgore track coach Nina Mata was on hand Wednesday at practice, helping coach Reese in one of her events, the long jump.

The top two finishers in each event at regionals move on to the state meet at the University of Texas in Austin in May.

They'll get one more shot in actual competition this weekend. All the KHS regional qualifiers will be in action either at Gladewater (the girls) or at White Oak (boys) on Friday afternoon, warm-up or "get-ready" meets against athletes from other schools that they just might see at regionals next weekend.

Photos by Lester Murray

Kilgore track coaches Kerry Strong and Phillip Lane say their qualifiers will practice fairly aggressively until next Thursday - that day, they'll have a light workout, then head on to Denton Thursday afternoon. The competition will begin for Kilgore athletes on Friday at noon, when Edwards competes in the high jump.

Colbert, a senior, will represent the Bulldogs in both the long jump and the 100 meter dash. He's had a good senior season, Lane has said, and would love to cap it with a trip to the state meet.

Tai'Shea Reese has been there, done that on the state level, and would love to go back. In fact, she'd love to go back in more than one event. Last year, Reese became the third track athlete from Kilgore High School to reach the state meet since 2003 when she qualified in the high jump (following Whitney Clark, who went in the hurdles in two straight years, and Courtney Thomas, who made it to state in both the 100 and 200 meter dash in 2005).

She's got a few shots at qualifying for state this year. One is in the long jump, where she's been deadly to opponents this year. And she heads into the regional meet as the District 12-4A champion in the event. She's also running in the 100 meter dash, and as a leg of both the 400 meter relay and the 800 meter relay.

Strong's girls relay team is Reese, Morgan, Shepherd and Johnson, with Smith and Ashley going as alternates.

Also in a second event is Johnson, who will run for KHS in the 300 meter hurdles. Samone Jones will be at regionals in the shot put competition for Kilgore. Her personal best is 38 feet, 6 inches - Jones said her goal next weekend is to hit 40 feet.

Joining Colbert on the boys side for KHS will be Venegas, the team's long-distance runner, in the 1600 meter run; Edwards in the high jump; and Dominique Jones and Stokes, both in the discus. Stokes moved up from junior varsity and finished third in district.