Monroe teams sweep titles at Winfred Benson/L.C. Smith Relays

ALBANY — The Monroe Lady Tornadoes 4X400 relay team was in third place for much of their race until Jahari Williams got the baton.

The junior came around the first corner picking up speed with each step, her bright red hair blowing in the wind, she overpowered the two runners ahead of her. The team, comprised of Williams, Nikeya Marshall, Candace Clyde and Yo’erra Jones, took first with a time of 3:58.72 despite a commanding start from Northside-Warner Robins who finished second.

That was the tone for much of the day for Monroe girls in the Winfred Benson/L.C. Smith Relays Saturday at Hugh Mills Stadium — start slow, pick up speed and finish with a bang.

After five events, the Lady Tornadoes were in third place with 24 points. After ten they were in first with 70 and by the end of the day, they finished with a total of 149 points, 59.5 points ahead of second-place Northside.

The boys would also place first with a total of 101 points.

Head coach Billy Glanton said his team’s faced very stiff competition that forced them to take their game to another level, even the Herald’s reigning Track & Field Athlete of the Year Williams.

“I think Jahari was a little off today … she ran decent but not as well as she normally runs,” he said. “She had some good competition here. Of course, she did run her fastest time this year but she had a great competitor here in [Northside High’s] Cassandra Hall, one of the top runners in the country, and she really made Jahrari get on her A game today…I was proud to see her not back down and compete.”

Glanton added that it was very special to have both the boys and girls place first and credits their hard work and determination.

“It’s been a while since that’s happened,” he said. “Just working hard and wanting to perform well today [led to the victories]. They’ve worked hard all week. Really for the last couple of weeks, you could hear it in the air, they’ve been talking about ‘we want to win our meet,’ the boys especially, ‘we want to win our meet, we’re tired of just seeing our girls win, we want to win it this year’.”

As impressive as they were Saturday, Glanton said there’s still another gear they can reach.

“Our relay teams…we think they competed well, they PR-ed, but we still see a little bit more that we can do there to tweak that and get time down…”

The Westover girls placed third overall and head coach Octavia Jones said he saw a lot of what he wanted to see from both his girls and boys team. While they haven’t quite reached his expectations yet, he said they’re on their way.

“The thing that we try to preach to them is that every week, we want to see them get better,” he said. “See everyone get better with their individual times and as a team, when we get to the region meet we want to be close to our peak so we can have good performances during the championship part of our season.”

^^^

Boys Team Results: Monroe 101, Valdosta 97.5, Tift County 82.5, Bainbridge 61.5, Westover 60, Lee County 47.5, Veterans 42, Terrell County 38, Rutland 27, Albany 27, Northside-WR 25.5, Americus-Sumter 16.5, Dougherty 14, Cairo 7, Pelham 7

Shot Put: 1. Antravious Parks, Westover, 51-4.5; 2. Brentavious Glanton, Monroe, 49-2; 3. Brandon Sandifer, Northside-WR, 48-11.5; 4. Keonte Terry, Terrell County, 45-1.

Pole Vault: 1. Thomas Langstaff, Westover, 12-0; 2. Dalton Ellis, Tift County, 11-0; 3. Devonta Williams, Albany, 11-0; 4. Mekhi Witherspoon, Northside-WR, 8-6

3oo-Meter Hurdles: 1. Josh Norwood, Valdosta, 39.57; 2. Qundez Carter, Westover, 39.56; 3. Robert Kier, Valdosta, 40.83; 4. Brandon Bawn, Rutland, 40.84

4×100 Meter Relay: 1. Valdosta #1 (Savieus Stoney, Cornelius Williams, Josh Norwood, Mark Henderson), 42.53; 2. Monroe #1 (Daryl Brown, Tymashye Kendrick, Antonio Leroy, Tedo McGowan), 43.24; 3. Tift County #1, 43.35; 4. Bainbridge #1, 43.37

Discus: 1. Jamari Chisolm, Valdosta, 128-0; 2. Dontavis Mango, Dougherty, 116-1; 3. Braxton Golden, Northside-WR, 115-3; 4. Brushard Fletcher, Lee County, 114-4

Long Jump: 1. Victor Bodison, Bainbridge, 21-7.5; 2. Gary Stevenson, Tift County, 21-1; 3. Dallas Smith, Rutland, 20-10; 4. Trevian Jackson, Albany, 20-3.5

Triple Jump: 1. Brandon Bawn, Rutland, 45-5.5; 2. Trevian Jackson, Albany, 44-10; 3. Malik Dungee, Albany, 43-5.5; 4. Chris Melton, Lee County, 42-10.5

3200 Meters: 1. Michael Rowlands, Veterans, 10:13.90; 2. Chase Harris, Bainbridge, 10:17.59; 3. Rashawn Robinson, Monroe, 10:29.31; 4. Nigel Trice, Monroe, 10:47.08

100-Meter Hurdles: 1. Robert Kier, Valdosta, 15.00; 2. Josh Norwood, Valdosta, 15.01; 3. Michael Cooper, Terrell County, 15.20; 4. Anfernee Hill, Westover, 15.23

100 meters: 1. Mark Henderson, Valdosta, 11.01; 2. Jayce Rogers, Valdosta, 11.07; 3. Gary Stevenson, Tift County, 11.29; 4. Emmanuel Eaford, Lee County, 11.30

800 meters: 1. Robert Grooms, Lee County, 2:01.08; 2. Jorden Bell, Monroe, 2:03.32; 3. Rashawn Robinson, Monroe, 2:03.53; 4. Martin Jones, Westover, 2:04.08

1600 meters: 1. Rashawn Robinson, Monroe, 4:41.61; 2. Chase Harris, Bainbridge, 4:43.68; 3. Michael Rowlands, Veterans, 4:55.28; 4. 4:59.83

200 meters: 1. Tymashye Kendrick, Monroe, 22.33; 2. Jonathan Johnson, Veterans, 22.62; 3. Quay Duggins, Tift County, 22.67; 4. Cornelius Williams, Valdosta, 22.74

400 meters: 1. Josh Ajiero, Tift County, 48.57; 2. Tymashye Kendrick, Monroe, 49.61; 3. Robert Grooms, Lee County, 50.50; 4. Blake Mathis, Terrell County, 50.95

4×200-meter Relay: 1.Monroe “A” 1:33.44 (Daryl Brown, Christian Carter, Antonio Leroy, Mark Robinson); 2. Valdosta “A” (Latavious Mapp, Jalen Harrell, Razjhonta Strickland, Jaelyn Temple); 3. Northside-WR “A” 1:33.97 (John Johnson, Hoy Thurman IV, Jurmon Weaver, Tyree Williams); 4. Bainbridge “A” 1:34.80

4×400-meter Relay: 1. Monroe “A” 3:24.44 (Jorden Bell, Tymashye Kendrick, Quinshawn King, Tedo McGowan); 2. Valdosta “A” 3:25.55 (Cornelius Williams, Savieus Stoney, Theo Hampton, Josh Norwood); 3. Tift County “A” 3:29.95; 4. Bainbridge “A” 3:31.75

High Jump: 1. Blake Mathis, Terrell County, 6-4; 2. Cervantes Jackson, Bainbridge, 6-2; 3. Dallas Smith, Rutland, 6-2; 4. Jorden Bell, Monroe, 5-10

^^^^

Girls Team Results: Monroe 149, Northside-WR 89.5, Westover 86, Westside-Macon 54.5, Veterans 51, Pelham 41.5, Northeast-Macon 41, Valdosta 40, Rutland 35, Tift County 26, Terrell County 15, Lee County 11, Albany 11, Bainbridge 10, Dougherty 2

Shot Put: 1. Mekhaela Witherspoon, Northside-WR, 39-7.5; 2. Ashley Harrell, Monroe, 36-9; 3. Sunshine Walton, Northside-WR, 35-6; 4. Quasha Fergerson, Tift County, 34-8.5.

Long Jump: 1. Jahari Wiliams, Monroe, 19-2; 2. Breanca Davis, Rutland, 17-1.5; 3. Tiana Campbell, Westover, 16-8.5; 4. Jada Hunt, Monroe, 16-6

Triple Jump: 1. Briana Harpe, Westover, 34-10.5; 2. Jabree Jones, Rutland, 34-6; 3. Zoe Jordan, Westside-Macon, 34-5; 4. Jaliah Jackson, Northeast Macon, 33-4.25

300-Meter Hurdles: 1. Kamare Wayes, NE Macon, 45.59; 2. Zakirra McKinnon, Valdosta, 46.25; 3. Isis McVay, Monroe, 47.85; 4. Destiny Lasane, Valdosta, 48.08

High Jump: 1. Daisha Terry, Westside-Macon, 5-4; 2. Tikarra Benoit, Northside-WR, 5-0; 3. Tiana Campbell, Westover, 5-o; 4. Annie Ervin, Veterans, 4-10

Discus: 1. Ashley Harrell, Monroe, 122-0; 2. Mekhaela Witherspoon, Northside-WR, 199-9; 3. Amelia Almond, Pelham, 118-7; 4. Sunshine Walton, Northside-WR, 107-07

Pole Vault: 1. Cheyenne Brooks, Pelham, 11-0; 2. Janasia Daniels, Westover, 8-0; 3. Laura Watts, Pelham, 7-0; 3. Porsha Wilson, Northside-WR, 7-0

1600 Meters: 1.Bethanie Bailey, Veterans, 5:51.09; 2. Naila Harris, Monroe, 5:55.30; 3. Monica Webb, Pelham, 6:06.09; 4. Caitlin Cainion, Westover, 6:10.59

100 meters: 1. Zakirra McKinnon, Valdosta, 15.42; 2. Kamare Wayes, Northeast Macon, 16.23; 3. Destiny Lasane, Valdosta, 16.79; 4. Taneisha Huckaby, Terrell County, 16.97

4×100-meter Relay: 1. Monroe #1, 47.29 (Candace Clyde, Artexas Drake, Jada Hunt, Jahari Williams); 2. Westover #1, 49.72 (Tiana Campbell, Tamiyah Dice, Shakyra Horton, Kristavia Milton); 3. Rutland #1, 49.73 (Jasmine Hughes, Deja Goodine, Katelyn Bryant, Breanca Davis); 4.Westside Macon #2, 50.07

400 meters: 1. Nikeya Marshall, Monroe, 58.74; 2. Mya Ford, Westside-Macon, 59.26; 3. Mehkya Wilcox, Westover, 59.77; 4. Candace Clyde, Monroe, 1:01.36

800 meters: 1. Naila Harris, Monroe, 2:26.21; 2. Aquilla Hayes, Tift County, 2:28.85; 3. Mya Ford, Westside-Macon, 2:32.28; 4. Deaundria Anderson, Monroe, 2:33.76

200 meters: 1. Cassondra Hall, Northside-WR, 24.03; 2. Jahari Williams, Monroe, 24.70; 3. Jada Hunt, Monroe, 25.19; 4. Tamdra Lawrence, Westside Macon, 25.25

4×400 Meter Relay: 1. Monroe “A” 3:58.72 (Nikeya Marshall, Jahari Williams, Candace Clyde, Yo’erra Jones); 2 Northside-WR “A” 4:05.10 (Cassondra Hall, Takera James, Toleah Martin, Toneah Martin) 3. Monroe “B” 4:07.04 (Artexas Drake, Zamaria Shead, Naila Harris, Jada Hunt); 4. Westover “A” 4:15.06 (Caitlin Cainion, Briana Harpe, Shakyra Horton, Elizabeth Ross)

4×200 Meter Relay: 1. Westover “A” 1:49.68 (Tiana Campbell, Tamiyah Dice, Kristravia Milton, Shaderria Thomas); 2. Northside-WR “B” 1:51.60 (Tikarra Benoit, Deja Turner, Michelle Walls, Raven King); 3. Monroe “A” 1:52.48 (Jordan Foster, Nyla Foster, Alexandria Graham, Sed’Quita Roundtree); 4. Veterans “A” 1:56.10 (Alexandria Czoka, Tamara Riley, Temia Sapp)

3200 meters: 1. Bethanie Bailey, Veterans, 12:19.91; 2. Monica Webb, Pelham, 13:08.98; 3. Uriyah Davis, Bainbridge, 13:13.94; 4. Kateria Taylor, Westover, 13:32.53

100-meter hurdles: 1. Zakirra McKinnon, Valdosta, 15.42; 2. Kamare Wayes, Northeast, 16.23; 3. Destiny Lasane, Valdosta, 16.79; 4. Taneisha Huckaby, Terrell County, 16.97