DISTRICT TITLE REPEAT

Advancing all three relays to Area, Meridian boys capture second straight District 20-1A Track & Field Championship qualifying 17; Lady Jackets take third place, led by Journey Stauffer in five events

Putting the team concept first over individual goals and performances, the Meridian boys outscored the seven-team field to repeat as overall team champions at the District 20-1A Track and Field Championship last Wednesday at Jacket Stadium in Meridian.

Advancing 17 athletes to compete in 11 events at the District 19-20 Area Championships originally scheduled for Wednesday in Dublin but moved to Thursday in Whitney due to inclement weather, the Jackets ran away from the field for the team title with 172 points, easily outscoring runner-up Iredell with 117 points and third place Covington with 109.

For the Meridian girls, the Lady Jackets will be advancing six athletes to compete in seven events after placing third as a team with 83 points, well behind district champion Blum with 221 points and runner-up Covington with 108.

“I am very proud of our kids,” Meridian boys track head coach Grant Schur said. “We lost a lot of key seniors from our track team last year, but our kids really competed hard all year long and repeated as district champions.

“We ran some guys in the relays to put the normal relay guys into individual events. People don’t think of track as a team sport, but it really is. I think that really speaks to our kids’ commitment to wanting to repeat as the team champions, and the attitude our kids have of just doing whatever it takes to win. As a coach there isn’t much more you can ask of your kids than that, and I am very proud of them.”

By advancing all three relay teams to the Area meet, the Jackets will field a strong team at Area led by senior Dustin Padgett, senior Brayden Wehmeyer, junior Matty Jones, junior Ian Gomez and Kenneth Martin advancing in three events each, while Isaac Lira, Dawson Cummings, Hayden Cummings, Jackson Boganwright and AB Torres qualifying in two events apiece.

Other Meridian boys advancing to Area include Ezekial Mabry, Cesar Ramos, Copper Arthur, Josh Nunez and Zachary Smith.

Leading the Lady Jackets, junior Journey Stauffer advanced in five events, followed by senior Canyon Stauffer in three events, sophomore Dyna Potter in two events, as well as junior Mariana Paniagua, Katelyn Ramirez and sophomore Sarah Rosales.

The Meridian boys won a silver medal in the 4×100-meter relay manned by Wehmeyer, Gomez, Jones and Padgett with a time of 45.8, captured another silver medal in the 4×200-meter relay manned by Arthur, Boganwright, Wehmeyer and Jones with a time of 1:43.6, before claiming the bronze in the 4×400-meter relay manned by Cummings, Boganwright, Lira and Martin with a time of 4:12.3.

“Those guys getting off the relays this week had to sacrifice and run races they don’t normally run,” Schur said. “And then those guys filling in on the relays sacrificed as well to run on the relays. Some of those guys didn’t run their normal individual events to run on the relays and make sure the relays qualified out to Area.”

Individually for the Meridian boys, Padgett won two silver medals in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.5 and 400-meter dash with a time of 56.1.

“Dustin didn’t run what he is capable of running in the 400,” Schur said. “But we will keep working on it and get him where he needs to be. Sometimes you just have those days. He ran the 100 for the first time also and finished second. I think with a little bit of work on his start, we can really shave a good amount of time off it.”

In addition to the relay events, Gomez claimed a bronze in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.1, and finished fourth in the 200-meter dash.

“Ian ran well in the 100 and 200,” Schur said. “He had a similar situation as Dustin. He is normally a straight relay guy that we put in open events. He hasn’t had as much block work, so I think we could really take some time off his final times as well.”

Also medaling in two relay events, Jones won a gold medal in high jump with a leap of 5-6.

“Matty jumped really well in the high jump,” Schur said. “I have been telling him all year he has six feet in him, and I think yesterday might have finally showed him he can. He didn’t clear 5-10, but I am still not sure what he clipped it with in his first attempt. Then on his third attempt, he was about four inches over the bar. He was just a little late throwing his feet and clipped it with his calf.

Dawson Cummings won a gold medal in pole vault with a leap of 8-0 and grabbed a bronze medal in the 3200-meter run with a time of 13:35.1.

“Dawson has gotten better and better in the pole vault,” Schur said. “After he won at 8 feel, we bumped that up to 9, and he had several really good attempts at it, so I think he can very easily get that. Like I said, all in all it was a pretty good day, we came away healthy, and got a lot of kids advancing to the area track meet.”

Also medaling for the Jackets, Wehmeyer claimed a silver medal in triple jump with a leap of 34-2.75, Mabry captured a silver in the 3200-meter run with a time of 13:32.2, Martin won a silver in high jump with a leap of 5-4, Torres took the silver medal in pole vault, Nunez captured a bronze medal in triple jump with a leap of 34-1, Hayden Cummings claimed a bronze in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 21.0, and Smith grabbed the bronze in pole vault.

Individually for the Lady Jackets, Journey Stauffer brought home three medals, winning gold medals in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:08.5 and in pole vault as well as a silver medal in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:55.5. Canyon Stauffer captured a silver medal in the 100-meter dash with a time of 14.2 and a bronze medal in the 200-meter dash with a time of 31.0, while Potter claimed a bronze medal in the 800-meter run with a time of 3:01.9.

Additionally, the Lady Jackets advanced to Area with a silver medal in the 4×100-meter relay manned by Paniagua, Canyon Stauffer, Journey Stauffer and Rosales with a time of 56.3,m while Ramirez placed fourth in the 800-meter run with a time of 3:04.7.

“We didn’t run what I think we were capable of in some of our events,” Schur said. “But everything we were expecting to advance to area advanced. And at the end of the day, sometimes you just have to find a way to survive and move on to the next round. And we did that.”

Photos by WENDY OROZCO