STARKVILLE — Starkville High School”s first chance to play host to a North State track meet won”t be on its campus, but make no mistake: It”s a home meet.
The Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A/6A North State meet will take place Saturday at Mississippi State”s Carl Maddox Track facility.
Field events and the 3,200-meter run will start at 10 a.m. Other running events will begin at noon.
Having already competed on MSU”s new surface at its $3.2 million renovated facility, Starkville”s track teams are set to play host to rivals Tupelo and Columbus.
“I found out when (SHS Athletic Director) Mr. (Stan) Miller was giving a speech at our school,” Lady Yellow Jackets distance runner Walker Mattox said. “I just looked up at my mom and smiled. I am pumped and excited to hold it here. I love the MSU track. It makes me feel really fast. I”m excited we get to hold it.”
As the hosts, Starkville”s boys enter the weekend as co-favorites with Tupelo, which won last week”s region meet with 126 points, 14 more than second-place Starkville.
Junior distance runner Kamau Bostic won the 800 and 1,600 at regionals, setting a new personal record in the 1,600 at 4 minutes, 39.82 seconds.
Bostic is a favorite to win the 1,600 and 800 this weekend, but he isn”t the only Yellow Jacket who has a chance to win a title.
Senior thrower Martavious Foster”s 152-foot, 8-inch discus mark at regionals launched him into the top five rankings in the state, regardless of classification. The distance was two feet more than the Milesplit US Second-Team Elite qualifying mark.
Foster was throwing in the 130s, then threw 141 at district and 152 at regionals. He”s one of four throwers in the state who”ve eclipsed 150 feet.
Starkville”s 4×200 relay team of Jacoby Smith, Julien Lewis, Devin Mitchell, and Gabe Myles has a US Second-Team Elite time.
Starkville track coach Chris Barnett said Saturday”s meet will feature 10 First or Second-Team Elite qualifiers.
Athletes who reach benchmarks for Milesplit US First-Team Elite are eligible to compete at the national level. Second-Team Elite qualifiers can race at the Nike Outdoor National Meet.
“There”s a lot of talent that will be showcased at this meet,” said Barnett, whose team last won state titles in 2008 and ”09. “We had certain people that we thought would move on to the next meet (at regionals), and we had certain people who were in that ”iffy” range who stepped up at that meet. Some people are on that bubble, so we need that home-town support to help push us through.”
Ranked ninth in 6A in the high jump, Columbus senior Sammy Doughty is coming off a 6-foot, 2-inch jump at regionals. The height is a personal record for Doughty, who enters the weekend with the fourth-best mark of the North State teams.
“This year he hasn”t done anything, so nobody”s talking to him,” Columbus coach Jim Hamilton said of Doughty”s lack of interest from college scouts. “We”re really hoping he”s going to have a good meet at North. If he improves as much this week as he did last week, he”s back.”
Columbus” 4×100 relay team is coming off a season-best time of 43.13 seconds at regionals. It enters the weekend with a top-five 6A time. Starkville”s 4×100 team is ranked one spot behind, two-hundredths of a second behind.
Starkville”s 4×400 team of Smith, Charles Hughes, Jalan Catledge, and Bostic has the top-ranked time in 6A, but that”s with injured Davis Josey in the squad. If healthy, Josey will take the spot of Hughes, who took second in the 110 hurdles (15.46) and 300 hurdles (42.25) at regionals. Hughes was just .12 seconds away from a win in the 110 hurdles last week.
“At North half, he”s got a shot in the 110,” Barnett said of Hughes. “In the 300, there”s a kid from South Panola (Nick Brassell) that is extremely good. He”s an extremely good runner with no form. If he had form, he would be dangerous. If he had Charles” form, he”d be No. 1 in the state, easily. Being that he doesn”t, do I think Charles could beat him? Yes, but it”s gonna take the best of the best effort because there”s still two guys in the South Half that have run 39.”
Columbus” girls scored 96 points last week, and were led by a pair of relay wins in the 4×200 (1:45.56) and 4×400 (4:11.64), which was 10 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. The Lady Falcons” 4×400 time is ranked No. 8 in 6A.
Seventh-grader Sky Samual looks to break through in the sprint events following a win in the 200 and a second-place finish in the 100 at regionals. She”s ranked fourth in 6A in the 100 and sixth in the 200.
Sharrisa Spencer, who set a personal record with a mark of 33-4 3/4 in the triple jump last week, enters the weekend as the eighth-ranked triple jumper in 6A.
For Starkville, distance runner Walker Mattox is a favorite to win the 3,200 and the 1,600. She owns the top 6A time in the 3,200 and the third-best time in the 1,600.
Teammate Mary Elizabeth Stringer is seventh in 6A in the 1,600 and eighth in the 800.
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