“Awful,” said Jacksonville head track coach Jordan Houston of the weather conditions. “We started at 9:30 with the discus and it sleeted from 9:30 until 11 and then it started pouring rain at 11 and was 40 degrees.”
Yet somehow through it all, the JHS boys track team prevailed taking home the county track championship with a resounding 142 points, outdistancing its closest competitors Saks and Oxford who tied for second with 108 points.
Even more amazing was the fact that Jacksonville walked away with the trophy due mainly to the efforts of their field events which were hampered the most by the elements.
Seniors Knox Newell, Stephen Waters and Randy Woods led the Eagles to victory. Newell took first place in the shot put with Waters coming in second. Newell also came in first in the discus with Waters taking third and Waters came in second in the javelin to Pleasant Valley’s Kyle Bean with Newell coming in third.
“If we can score a few points in running that gives us a big advantage overall because we are so good in the field right now,” said Houston.
“We finally have started to develop runners. Everyone concentrates on running, that’s a big part of it and everyone will be strong in running but our advantage is that we are strong in the field.”
On the track side, Cordero Little finished second in the 100-meter dash with Travis Dunn finishing fourth. Jervon Cowden came in fifth in the 200 meter.
In the 400 meter dash Deonte Elston came in fifth and Tyler Ross sixth with Pleasant Valley’s Michael Lockridge taking the second spot and White Plains’ Cameron Burns third.
Warren Stephens tacked on points to the overall Eagle total taking sixth in the 800 meter run.
Jacksonville’s Jecolby Heard came in fifth in the 110 meter hurdles with Joe Faucett of Pleasant Valley coming in first.
Jacksonville’s 4x100 meter relay team came in second. The Eagle 4x400 meter relay team came in first.
White Plains finished fourth and Pleasant Valley sixth in the meet.
On the girls’ side, Jacksonville came in fifth with Oxford taking first place honors and Anniston and Piedmont second and third. White Plains came in sixth and Pleasant Valley tenth in the competition.
The Jacksonville girls have new faces this year, new to track but not to JHS sports.
Back for the Lady Eagles this year is Taylor Palmer, who won the state championship two years ago in the discus. Palmer came in first in the discus in the county meet with volleyball teammate, Caroline Neisler, taking second.
“These girls have been around success and they don’t want anything less,” said Houston.
Also out for track this year is Lacey Buchanon, who played soccer last year.
“Lacey does the 100 and 200, the 4x100 relay and the 4x4; she’s always consistent and is always scoring points,” says Houston.
Shelby Coffman has switched from softball to track and came in fourth in the shot put. “Shelby has come in third or fourth at every track meet and by the time sectionals rolls around she will be very competitive,” says Houston.
Kayla Keith took second for Jacksonville in the shot put. Mallory McGuire who took third in state last year in the javelin took second at the county meet with Avery Jordyn of White Plains taking first and Charity Osowski of White Plains placing third.
Houston feels that his track team is going to be more competitive at sectionals than they have been over the last couple of years. “The county track meet is something for us to build on,” says Houston.
The sectional track meet will take place at JSU on April 23-24 for 4A and 1A schools.
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