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Sikeston tracksters have 'up and down day'
JEFFERSON CITY - Sikeston High School boy and girl athletes competed in the Class 3 State Track and Field championships on Friday at Dwight T. Reed Stadium in Jefferson City.
The Bulldogs has some solid performances as well as some disappointments, but overall, head coach Jerry Dement was pleased with his team's effort.
"It was an up and down day," Dement said. "Our kids competed. We're just not in the money yet."
Senior Tyler Woodson's performance was a clear example of this "up and down day."
He ran away with the 110 meter hurdles preliminary with a time of 14.9 seconds, one-tenth of a second better than the second place finisher. This gave him the number one seed in the finals, which were held Saturday.
In the 300 meter hurdles preliminary, however, Woodson finished last by more than a second, causing him to fail to qualify. Dement noted that "he has been nursing a hamstring problem," and that that may have contributed to his disappointing performance in that event.
Sikeston's second senior, Felante Larry, finished 5th in the long jump with a distance of 22 feet .75 inches, giving him all-state honors for the third straight year in the long jump. In the 200 meter dash, he failed to qualify for yesterday's final by ending up 10th with a time of 23 seconds.
Larry, along with Brandon Williams, Bryan Branion and Brandon Washington, also missed reaching the final run in the 4 x 100 meter relay by getting the 10th spot at 44.03 seconds.
The two seniors were the only ones remaining in competition on Saturday.
"Tyler's seeded first in the high hurdles," said Dement. "Felante's seeded in the top two or three in the triple jump. We're hoping to have a big day for the two."
The girls' portion of the Sikeston track team didn't fare quite as well as they had hoped.
In both the 4 x 100 relay (Chasman Herrion, Lashawna Turner, Jackie Nance and Martika Davis) and the 4 x 800 relay (Traci Jackson, Whitney Turner, Ashley Johnson and Deneka Miller), Sikeston finished 15th, with times of 51.63 and 10:25.19, respectively.
Herrion missed yesterday's finals in the 100 meter dash by getting 11th with a time of 12.94.
On a positive note, all the girls that competed are underclassmen, giving them some valuable experience for the future.
"On the girls side, we didn't get anybody through to Saturday," said Dement. "They gave a good effort, but they just didn't quite get there. Hopefully that'll set them up for next year."
All in all, Sikeston's track and field performance wasn't exactly what the squad had in mind.
"I'm always disappointed unless we do well," Dement said. "Sometimes you step up, sometimes you don't. We just didn't rise up to the challenge."
For New Madrid County Central, Jeffrey McFarland qualified for all three of his events by getting 3rd in the 100 meters (11.02), 2nd in the 200 (22.57) and 4th in the 400 (50.53). The NMCC 4 x 200 relay team also made it to the finals on Saturday when they finished 4th with a time of 1:30.72.
Levi Rawson of Dexter High School secured an all-state medal when he got 4th in the long jump by posting a distance 22-3.5. Also for Dexter, Natalie Hayes got 12th in the 400 meters (1:00.98), but Mallory Kennedy medaled by finished 6th in the triple jump with a distance of 35-8.0.
Dexter's 4 x 100 meter relay team missed qualifying by earning 10th with a 51.10 time.
SPRINGFIELD - Sikeston senior tennis player Marc Leible went 2-1 at the Class 1 Singles State Tournament on Friday, ensuring at least a top-8 finish overall.
Leible won in the first round when he defeated Justin Peppmeier of Ozark with a score of 6-2, 1-6, 6-3. He then lost in the quarterfinals to Teddy White of John Burroughs, 6-0, 6-1.
In the consolation quarterfinals, Leible was on the winning end when he defeated Ozark's Josh Ross.