The Clarksdale High School girls won the district meet at Mississippi Valley State University and placed second in regionals at Center Hill High School in Olive Branch.
The Lady Wildcats will compete in the north state at Pontotoc Thursday.
“I just feel like us as coaches, we came together and we put people where we thought they should be that was more beneficial for the team and could get us more points,” said coach Kenya Arnold.
Coach Destiny Monix agreed.
“I think they kind of just bought in,” Monix said. “They bought into what we were trying to do. We didn’t have a lot of complaining either. It was just like, ‘This is what we’ve got to do to win.’ Then, I think they liked them Thursdays off. We would have track meets on Thursdays. We told them, as long as they win, the more they can miss class. I know that kind of helped them.”
Coach Alyssa Murphy also stressed teamwork.
“I think they worked together as a team,” Murphy said. “They support each other. The girls know each other really well and they support each other. That helps a lot, too.”
Alexis Moore won the 100-meter run in district and came in third in regionals at 13.5 seconds to qualify for the north state.
Moore and Tamaria Marbley qualified in the 200-meter run. Moore finished in 27.10 at regionals and Marbley finished in 27.2.
Marbley qualified in the 400-meter run with a 1:05 at regionals. Her best time was 1:04.
The 4x100-meter relay qualified for the north state with a first-place finish of 53 seconds at regionals. Marbley, Moore, Samirra Sherrod and Briana Hughes were the runners.
Hughes, Sherrod, Aaliyah Thomas and Jgemarriyah Evans came in fourth place in the 4x200-meter relay at 1:58.
Evans, Hughes, Trakeila Griffin and Sharletta Wilson came in second at regionals in the 4x400-meter relay at 4:58.
Wilson, Griffin, Thomas and Ramiyah Brown finished in fourth in the 4x800-meter relay at regionals.
Moore won the long jump at regionals while Marbley placed second. Both had a distance of 16.5 inches. Sherrod came in fourth at 14.9.
Sherrod came in second in the triple jump at 30.1.
Seventh-grader Makayla Wilson placed eighth in the disc at regionals at 41.9. She placed fourth in the district.
Sharletta Wilson placed fourth in the 1600-meter run at regionals with a time of 7:37.
The coaches all liked their athletes’ chance to perform well at Pontotoc Thursday.
“I think the girls want to work, so I think if they come out here and they do their best like they’ve been doing, then they can clearly compete with other teams,” Murphy said. “I think we have a strong chance.”
Monix agreed.
“They understand what they have to do, so they’re willing to do it,” she said. “As long as they’re willing, they’re going to be able to perform it.”
Arnold likes her team’s chances, but knows it will take a strong effort.
“I feel like we have a good chance,” she said. “We have to work a little harder, especially this week. We have to be able to finish strong a little more than we have in the past.”
Neely excels for Wildcats
Sophomore Greg Neely won the mile and 800-meter run at regionals and first in the 800-meter run and second in the mile in district. He is running the 800-meter run in around 2:17.
“That’s good for state,” said Wildcats coach Farrington Hill. “I think we’re going to get it down to about 2:13, 2:12 by Thursday because we’re going to practice hard. To compete in the state, he’s going to have to get it down to the high 1:50s, like 1:58, 1:59. I think he can because with two weeks of training, I think we can get it down to the low 2s and the high 1s. The low 2s will get him maybe a place in the state.
“In that distance, he’s been a beast. If he keeps this up, he’s going to possibly get him a scholarship.”
Hill said the boys team cleaned up the roster and moved away from seniors.
“This pandemic is really hurting sports,” he said. “Not being in school, we can’t put our hands on our kids, so a lot of our seniors we had from last year weren’t coming to practice or whatever. We just decided to move away from them. We’ve got a young core. We’ve got a core of 10 to 12 kids and they’re all 10th, ninth and eighth graders. That’s what we’re focusing on. They’re really solid. Our strong suit is distance. We’ve got a lot of great distance runners.”
The 4x800-meter relay team finished second in the regionals and district. They run the relay in around six minutes.
Marchellos Scott, Neely, Lamarcus Hicks and Patrick Broomfield ran the 4x800-meter relay. Scott is the only senior.
“Our sprinters are young,” Hill said. “Our sprinters didn’t fare too well. They’re finishing fifth place – all of them.”
They missed qualifying for the north state by one spot.
Hill said the future is bright and he is enjoying coaching track.
