By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
At long last, the W.S. Neal High School track program has a home somewhere besides a yellow bus.
The team will finally have its first home on March 13 when it entertains T.R. Miller and Monroe County five years after the all-weather surface was installed at W.S. Neal Stadium.
Quarles has additional reasons to be optimistic besides the facility aspect of his team's season. Numbers are way up in the girls program, as 14 participants are out this spring.
The W.S. Neal girls will build around sophomore Rachel Davis, who placed in three events at the state meet last year as a freshman. Davis was third in the long jump, fifth in the 100-meter dash and sixth in the 200 meters.
Davis will be joined in the sprints by sophomore Tiffany Walton, freshman Lateesha Day and eighth graders Athena Davis, Bethany Migis, and Brittany Burch.
The rest of the W.S. Neal lineup for the running events is a lot more unsettled.
Rachel Davis and Athena Davis are expected to hold down the long and triple jumps. Sophomore Miria White has been working out in the shot put and discus.
W.S. Neal's boys have some big shoes to fill with the departure of two-time state discus champion Joe Bailey. Bailey was also third in last year's state shot put competition.
While Bailey is gone, the Blue Eagles do return two members who scored in last year's state meet. Senior Jonathan Alexander was runner-up in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump. Freshman Jeremy Nicholson was fifth in the 110-meter high hurdles and seventh in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles as an eighth grader.
While Jonathan Alexander's biggest contributions may come in the field, he will also anchor the sprints. He will be joined by junior Cortellis Williams, sophomores Dana Smith and Nate Sheffield, freshman Jeremy Alexander and Nicholson and eighth grader Monterius Culliver.
The middle distance will consist of senior Justin Howard, juniors Ben Salter and Xavier Singleton, sophomores Danny Warrick, Clay Wiggins and Chris Payne and eighth grader Austin Hendricks.
Salter, sophomore Jacob Regehr and freshman Brian Weatherford will handle most of the distance chores.
Nicholson and Jeremy Alexander will hold down the hurdles.
The throwing crew will consist of senior Jeremy Brazile and juniors Adam York, Jonathan Benjamin and Donald Peacock.
Howard will lead W.S. Neal in the high jump. Jonathan and Jeremy Alexander, Nicholson and Singleton will hold down the long and triple jumps.
The W.S. Neal skipper does not expect W.S. Neal's move to Class 4A to have a big impact on his team.