Congratulations to the Lee Academy boys track and field team.
The boys won the Class 3A MSAIS state championship recently. The meet and events were both at Canton Academy and Jackson Prep.
The championship was a long time coming. It was the school’s first championship in any sport since 2009.
The Colts also did it in a year where conditions were tougher due to the COVID pandemic. Many schools canceled games and seasons for different reasons.
Even schools that had seasons did not necessarily have the same amount of athletes on the roster as usual.
But the Colts stuck it out and had a well-balanced track and field team from top to bottom. The different winners you see in today’s newspaper show the many contributors Lee Academy had.
It is not like other sports where you beat one team in a championship. The Colts were first out of 18 schools.
Bryan Ray, Andrew Williamson, Nickos Nolan, Graydon Gullick, Aidan Byrd, James Chicorell and Montavian Artis were the boys who finished in first place in at least one event.
The Fillies finished in fifth place out of 17 schools.
Emily Moser and Jett Harrell had first-place finishes for the Fillies.
I believe one reason the Colts and Fillies had so much success is the very nice track Lee Academy has. That enabled Lee to host many meets and get the practice it needed.
The track has been there for several years and kept up very well.
I expect the success in track and field to continue for many years to come.
I cannot predict the specifics of how Lee will fare next year, but when you have the depth the Colts and Fillies have in different events and athletes of all groups are competing every time, some form of success should be inevitable.
We should all be proud of Lee for its state championship. Once again, congratulations!
