Tracksters tune up against Bluff

Sikeston's Tori Rose, right, hands off to teammate Thomas Elery in the 4 x 200 relay in Tuesday's meet against Poplar Bluff (Photos by David Jenkins, Staff)

SIKESTON - Although a dual meet between two of the area's most powerful track and field teams was scheduled, what ended up taking place was more of a practice meet on Tuesday.

Sikeston and Poplar Bluff were slated to lock horns, but the Mules had other obligations, which led them to send its junior varsity team to SPS Stadium.

"This was a good practice meet for us today," said Sikeston head coach Jerry Dement. "Poplar Bluff didn't bring a full team because some of their kids went to another meet. So we turned it into a glorified practice."

Even though points weren't kept, Dement played it out as if it were a real meet. Sikeston won every event convincingly, but Dement's main goal was to get some work in and move some people around.

"We still had some good times and performances," said Dement. "We seem to be improving a little bit each meet. We've got two big invitationals coming up this weekend with the girls running Friday at the East Prairie Invitational with about 12 teams, and the boys will be at Murphysboro, Ill., with about 15 teams. We look for good competition on both sides, and we use these dual meets to try to get better and better all the time."

Sikeston's Jennifer Medlin, right, prepares to pass a Poplar Bluff competitor in Tuesday's mile run. Medlin took first place in the race.

Although he wouldn't elaborate on which individuals turned in strong performances, he said the entire team performed well.

"I'm really pleased with our progression in our relays," said Dement. "Our jumps in some instances are improving. We still need to find some depth in the throwing events and we need our pole vaulters to come around. And we've got to find a couple high jumpers to improve a little bit. We're not outstanding in all the races, but we're pretty respectable in everything so we've got a pretty well-rounded team.

"On the girls side we're really young in many instances. I'm really proud of the young freshmen girls that are coming along. And some of our older girls are taking a leadership role. We look for improvement each week and we'll get tested this weekend."

The girls East Prairie meet will be on Friday. The boys Murphysboro meet will be on Saturday.