Reese back to state!
HIGH SCHOOL TRACK AND FIELD
By MITCH LUCAS sports@kilgorenewsherald.com

HAT'S OFF - Kilgore boys track qualifiers Shadow Stokes (back, left), Dominique Jones, Shaun Edwards and Joe Colbert (front). Not pictured: Joel Venegas. A photo of the KHS girls regional qualifiers ran in Thursday's paper.

Not everybody on the Kilgore High School track and field team who competed in regionals over the weekend managed to qualify for the state track meet next month.

But they were happy for teammate Tai'Shea Reese, a KHS senior who will make the trek to Austin for the second straight year.

Reese won the girls long jump last weekend at the UIL Class 4A Region II Track and Field Championships at the University of North Texas in Denton, a personal-best of 19 feet, 9 inches.

"She won the regional meet by over a foot," KHS girls coach Kerry Strong said.

Reese will jump at the University of Texas' Mike Myers Stadium on Friday, May 9. Strong said. She was also to run in the girls 100 meter dash last weekend, but false-started.

Strong said he was proud of Reese's business-like approach. "Tai'Shea was as focused as I have ever seen a kid," he said. "Every jump she had was over 19 feet, which is an amazing accomplishment in itself. Every jump but one beet her previous personal best. She missed the meet record by 1.5".

Top: file photo by Lester Murray; group photo by Mitch Lucas

"She went for it on her final jump, but you could tell she was thinking about it down the runway and she scratched. If she keeps improving the way she did in the last two weeks, she has a shot to win (at state). I couldn't be more proud of they way she went about her business, the way she performed."

No one else from the KHS regional qualifiers will be going to the state competition, but coaches Strong and Phillip Lane agreed that all of them had good seasons. Lane was especially complimentary of the efforts of his only senior, Joe Colbert, who didn't place in either of his events at regionals (the 100 meter dash and the long jump), but gave a good effort, nonetheless.

"He competed well," Lane said, of Colbert. "He had a wonderful senior year. ...All of these kids, all our track kids, had a great year, and we're proud of every single one of them."

• Shaun Edwards finished seventh in the boys high jump with a jump of 6 feet, 4 inches.

• Dominique Jones and Shadow Stokes represented Kilgore in the discus, but neither placed among the top competitors.

• Joel Venegas competed for the KHS boys in the 1600 meter run. Venegas had the 19th best time out of 24 runners in the preliminaries, then finished 15th in the main run, dropping his overall best by two seconds and beating both of the opponents from District 12-4A.

• The girls relay team didn't get a time in the 400 meter, or sprint, relay because there was a drop of the baton on an exchange. In the 800 meter, though, they gave a nice performance, finishing with a 1 minute, 41-second time, their season best and good enough for fifth at regionals.

• Samone Jones gave a good effort in the girls shot put, but fell short of making the finals.

• Brandi Johnson ran the girls 300 meter hurdles in 53.7 seconds.