The T.R. Miller track teams brought home two team trophies after Saturday’s state meet — and competitors from Miller and W.S. Neal earned individual state championships for their performances.
T.R. Miller’s Karisa Nelson also earned a state 3A record for her performance in the 3200 meter run.
At the class 3A state track meet Friday and Saturday in Selma, the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers finished second to Bayside Academy for the second year in a row. The Tigers boys placed third.
T.R. Miller track coach Eddie Brundidge said he was pleased with the way his teams competed at the state meet over the weekend.
“Of course we didn’t finish where we would have loved to have,” he said. “Considering our youth and our inexperience, I was well-pleased with where we finished at the state meet. To get the girls in second place, that is four or five years running now of finishing one or two at state. I am proud of that. You can’t say enough about the individual efforts of both teams. All of them performed pretty much close to our expectations. The girls were scoring over 100 points and most of the time when you can muster up as many points as that you can win it. But you have to give credit to Bayside Academy. They are a strong team and had a little bit more depth than we did. We just came up a little bit short again.”
The Lady Tigers scored 110.5 total points while Bayside placed first out of 29 teams with 131.5 points. Piedmont took third placed with 67 points.
On the boys side, T.R. Miller scored 57.5 points finishing behind state champion Piedmont’s 81 points and Trinity’s 74.
Both the girls and boys teams had individuals win state championships.
For the girls, Karisa Nelson took first in the 800 and 3200-meter race and Lateysia Montgomery claimed the championship in the long jump. Nelson set a state record of 11:14.13 in the 3200 meters, beating the previous record set in 1985.
The 4×800 team of Katie Nelson, Karisa Nelson. Allie Nelson and Lindsay Norton claimed first. For the boys, Allen Boyd took first in the 110 hurdles.
“You can’t say enough about Karisa in the mile and the two-mile,” Brundidge said. “In the 4×800 event when she got the baton she was way behind (30 meters). She gutted it out and made a heck of an effort (11 seconds made up on the last lap). All year long she made a slow progression and turned it up in the sectionals and the state meet. We are real excited about having her back.”
Brundidge said Montgomery had a great senior year and will be missed.
“She really came on strong like you would want a senior to do,” Brundidge said. “She stepped up and I was proud of her for winning the long jump with some good numbers. She didn’t quite get what she wanted to in the triple jump, but she has been so vital for us all year and we were able to use her in a lot of different stuff. Putting her on the hurdles really helped us out. She had a good attitude about it and did well.”
Brundidge said he was real proud of Boyd in his efforts in the hurdles.
“There are not many guys his size that can say they are champions in the 110-hurdles,” Brundidge said. “That is because he worked at it. We missed him last year and were glad to get him back this year. He worked and got himself in position and had a heck of the run in the finals to win the state.”
Brundidge said even though the boys came up short, his team was able get a few points from everyone.
“I am going to miss Rob Stokes,” Brundidge said. “He did a great job of running distance for us. It will be hard to replace him. He did a good job for us and I am proud of the job he has done the last three years.”
Assistant track coach Rob Atkinson praised the efforts of the 4×800 team.
“Their time was faster than the one two years ago when we won the state championship,” he said. “They did a fine job. They were a few seconds off the record. Normally the amount of points we had as a team for the girls would win, but Bayside was just loaded. Hats off to them.”
Brundidge said his younger athletes did well at state.
“We had several young athletes that had person records in some events,” he said. “Makayla Harrison, Ahmad Taylor and Majestie Walker did well. Amber Terry did well in the pole vault. Lauren Bradley was second in the discus.”
TRM girls:
• Majestie Walker took ninth in the 400-meter dash, sixth in the 300-meter hurdles and 13th in the long jump.
• Karisa Nelson took first in the 800-meter run, second in the 1600-meter run and first in the 3200-meter run.
• Allie Nelson was 13th in the 800-meter run, sixth in the 1600-meter run and fifth in the 3200-meter run.
• Katie Nelson was 14th in the 800-meter run.
• Lindsay Norton was 13th in the 3200-meter run.
• Lateysia Montgomery claimed second in the 100-meter hurdles and first in the long jump.
• Morgan Rowell was eighth in the 100-meter hurdles and 13th in the 300-meter hurdles.
• The girls 4×100-meter relay team took third while the 4×400-meter relay team took fifth. The 4×800-meter relay team claimed first at state.
• Makayla Harrison was fourth in the girls high jump and 15th in long jump.
• Amber Terry was second in the pole vault.
• Erin Wade took seventh in the pole vault.
• O’Nesha Hall was 14th in girls shot put and 13th in the javelin.
• Lauren Bradley finished second in the discus.
•Kara Bradley was 11th in the javelin.
• Takeysia McFugerson finished 12th in the javelin.
TRM boys:
• Terry Samuel was 21st in the 400-meter dash.
• Rob Stokes finished seventh in the 800-meter run, third in the 1600-meter run and third in the 3200-meter run.
• Allen Boyd took first in the 110-meter hurdles and 15th in the 300-meter hurdles.
• T.R. Miller’s 4×100-meter relay team took sixth while the 4×400-meter relay team took 14th. The 4×800-meter relay team was 10th.
• David Barragan finished fifth in the high jump and ninth in the triple jump.
• Bailey Graves was second in the pole vault.
• Trin Miller was eighth in the pole vault.
• Caleb Hubbard was 11th in the pole vault.
• Ahmad Taylor took sixth in the long jump and 10th in the triple jump.
• Darby Black finished fifth in the shot put, 18th in the discus and 12th in the javelin.
• William Whittle was third in the discus and ninth in the javelin.
• Terry Samuel was fourth in the javelin.
W.S. Neal:
The W.S. Neal Eagle boys track team took 10th place out of 33 teams Saturday at the state track meet in Selma. The Eagles racked up 26 points.
Josiah Nettles led W.S. Neal in the meet with a fourth place finish in the 200-meter run and was crowned the 3A state champion in the 400-meter run with a time of 50.43.
“The track meet was the biggest I’ve attended in all my years of high school,” Nettles said. “We had been to Selma earlier that year, but it wasn’t that many teams there then. I was as nervous as I’ve ever been, but that helped me run the race of my life. I’ve always hated the 400-meter, until one day coach Whitten and coach Davis made me run it at a track meet. Surprisingly, I came in first, and kept coming in first. So I decided to put a little practice into the event and compete at the state level. I’d never thought I would win. It feels so good going out with a bang my senior year.
“It feels good to call myself a state champion.”
The Eagles 4×400-meter relay team took eighth in the state.
Gary Likely was seventh in the long jump and took second in the triple jump.
Bryson Peterson finished 21st in the shot put and 15th in the discus.
Jacob Southwell took 13th in the javelin.