Lady Tornados look to make one last push

ALBANY — The pressure is on for the Monroe Lady Tornadoes as the final day of the GHSA state track meet comes to a close today. After eight events, Monroe sits in sixth-place with 18 points. Head coach Billy Glanton said he was pleased with the work done in the field events Thursday to get them in that position.

“[Before the shot put] I said Ashley [Harrell], I know we can’t throw 46 right now with the girl from Whitewater, but I know you can beat everybody else,” he said. “I believe you can do that. It took her throwing the best she’s thrown in her career.”

Jahari Williams finished a spot below where he thought she would in the long jump, but he credits Kierra Mitchell with coming through in the clutch to give the Lady Tornadoes a slight boost.

“Mitchell kind of balanced things back out for us by getting fifth in the discus,” he said. “So we’re kind of where we want to be.”

Monroe wasn’t able to get any points in the finals of the distance events Friday, so it’ll be up to the sprinters to have a strong showing in the finals today if they’re going to have a shot at placing in the top three. The fact that Williams is experiencing tendinitis in her quad and isn’t 100 percent this weekend has Glanton uncertain about catching Marist, who sits in first place with 54.5 points.

“I know Jahari is a kind of gimpy right now,” he said. “She’s a little under the weather, but if she was full speed, I’d feel a lot more confident in making a push [to catch Marist].”

He is confident in his relay teams after their performances in the preliminaries Thursday. Glanton said all year he’s preached the importance of teamwork and he said he feels they’ve taken it to heart and are rising to the challenge this weekend.

“We challenged them to not make it so much of a load on Jahari because we have a track program,” he said. “We believe in having a full program, not just one or two people carrying the load. It’s time for them to do their part and that’s what we put on them.

“Last night they showed us that they could do that by getting out there in the 4X400 relay and giving her a chance to run without pressure.”

Opening ceremonies for the finals begins at 11:15 a.m., followed by the 4X400 relay at noon.