MACON — Depending on the season, sports talk in Noxubee County typically veers toward high school football or basketball.
But the Noxubee County High School boys and girls track and field teams are doing their best to get people talking about their success.
The school”s girls team is coming off a district title and its first regional title last week in the Class 4A, Region 2 meet at Pearl High School.
The boys team continued its run of success as it captured its eighth district title and won its second regional title in as many years.
Coach Tyrone Shorter”s teams will try to add more hardware to their haul Saturday when they compete in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A North State meet at Mississippi State. The Class 6A North State meet will be held at the same time.
The boys team scored 128 points last week to beat Amanda Elzy (84 points) and Caledonia (82) for the regional crown. That performance has given team members even more confidence this week in preparation for the North State meet.
“We all set out to make history for the first time at Noxubee County and to win a state title and bring it back to Noxubee County for the first time,” said Brandon Sanders, who competes in the hurdles and on the relay teams.
Junior Jarius King, who won the 800 meters at regionals and also competes on the relay teams, said a championship is a realistic goal because the Tigers have a deep team capable of scoring in multiple events. He said that talent will help the team run the gauntlet of district, regional, North State, and overall State to help it reach the ultimate prize.
“It is very realistic (to win a state title),” King said. “We have progressed, and we have a great group of guys and a great coach. Anything we want to, we can do it.”
Sanders, King, Brelyon Spencer, and Broderick Scott perk up when talk turns to their events in which they compete. They are especially proud of the performance of the 4×400 team, which hold the best time in Class 4A. The team won the event with a time of 3 minutes, 29 seconds at the regional meet. Each member of the team feels the team can trim that time to 3:25 on Saturday and even lower for the State meet.
The girls also have high goals.
Led by first-place finishes in the 4×100 and 4×200 relays and by Brianna Brooks (long jump, triple jump), Jasmine Little (shot put), Gabrielle Rice (100), and Tredeshia Conner (200), the girls aren”t satisfied with one history-making performance.
“It was surreal,” said Aja Forte, who took fourth in the 300 hurdles, of winning the title. “We couldn”t believe it, but we knew we could do it. It wasn”t about making history. It was about qualifying and working hard. I guess it paid off in the end.”
Little won the shot put with a mark of 37 feet, 1 inch. She took second in the discus (94-0). Her season-best in the shot put is 38 feet, and she feels a mark in the 40-foot range would be hard to beat for a state title.
Shorter only has four seniors on his girls team, which means even bigger things could be in store for the future. After more than a decade as coach of both track teams, Shorter is used to having people wonder how Noxubee County does so well in the sport without having a facility to aid in its training. He credits the athletes for working hard and pacing themselves through regular-season meets, which he said he uses as practice, so they are ready to peak at the right time.
“I think this year we will take more girls to state than since I have been here,” Shorter said. “I am excited about that.”
Caledonia High”s Jessica Comer, a Mississippi State signee, will look to continue her dominance. The senior won the 3,200 (12:41.70), 1,600 (5:58.9), 800 (2:32), and 400 (1:04.56) at the regional meet. Her performance helped the Lady Confederates finish second (102 points) to Noxubee County.
Sarah Guess (third, shot put; fourth, discus) and Glenda Rhone (second, 400; second, 200; second, long jump), and Symone Dickerson (fourth, high jump) also qualified individually to compete Saturday.
For the Caledonia boys, Tyler Lowe (fourth, long jump and triple jump), Zach Senneff and Houston Greggs (third, fourth in 3,200), Jon Pagaduan (fourth, 110 hurdles), Caleb Roebuck (fourth, 100), Senneff (second, 1,600), Colt Gilbreath and Addison Warren (third, fourth, 800), and Roebuck (second, 200) earned individual berths.
The top four finishers in each event will advance to the North State meet.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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