Winfred Benson/L.C. Smith Relays still one of state’s best

ALBANY — Local and regional high school track athletes will converge on Hugh Mills Stadium Saturday to compete in one of the more well-known high school track & field meets in the state — the Winfred Benson/L.C. Smith Relays hosted by Monroe High School.

“Right now, we’re at about 20 plus teams,” Monroe track & field coach Billy Glanton said. “We normally get a couple extra teams that actually register a couple of days before the meet, so we’re still waiting on a couple of extra teams to chime in and register. We’re looking to have a great turnout.

“We always have a lot of national hype about our meet because we have a lot of kids that come in and perform well. We always have some elite performances that are recognized around the country. We’re looking forward to that.”

All Dougherty County public schools will be participating in this meet. The Monroe Lady Tornadoes, who finished second in the state a year ago, are returning several of the same athletes like sprinter Jahari Williams, who is the defending state champion in both the 100- and 200-meter dash.

Monroe’s Ashley Harrell returns as well to continue her good work throwing the shot put and discus. A year ago, Harrell finished second in the state in both events.

Glanton also believes that he has some freshmen that will perform well.

The Westover Patriots, who swept last year’s Region 1-AAAA meet in both girls and boys for the second straight year, also returns a strong field which will be on display on Saturday. Bryshea Jackson and Briana Harpe, who finished 1-2 in the triple jump in last year’s region meet will be competing among others.

Glanton also singled out Westover’s relay teams.

“They have excellent relay teams,” Glanton said. “We’ve seen them a couple of times, so we know that they are going to be very competitive.”

On the boys side, Monroe returns a strong team.

“We have Tymashye Kendrick, we have Daryl Brown, Jordan Bell and Brentavious Glanton, just to name a few,” Glanton said. “We have several guys that we feel should perform well this weekend.”

One athlete in particular that Glanton expects to have a tremendous performance not only Saturday but throughout the season is Rashawn Robinson.

Robinson finished first in the 3200 meters in the region meet last year with a time of 10:23.19.

“He’s probably the most underrated guy on the team,” Glanton said. “He probably has more potential than anybody we have. It’s just unlocking it. If he ever unlocks it, then his name will be on top of everybody’s list as well.”

With both the Monroe girls and boys teams doing well last year, Glanton believes the potential is there to surpass last year’s accomplishments.

“We feel good about what we have coming back because most of the guys on our boys team are back and a ton of the girls from our girls team are back,” Glanton said.

The meet begins Saturday morning at 9 am.