STEENS — Greg Watkins feels the doubt has been removed.
A year ago, the Columbus Christian Academy boys track and field team rallied from a 30-point deficit to win its first Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) Class AA State title. The championship came on the heels of a second-place finish at the MAIS Class AA North State meet.
You’ll have to excuse Watkins, who coaches the team, for having a sense of deja vu because his squad is in the same position this season. Last weekend, Canton Academy scored 77 points to outpace CCA (64 points) to take the blue-plated trophy that goes to the champion. The seven Rams had to settle for the red-plated trophy for second, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t confident about their chances this weekend when they will try to win a second-consecutive crown.
Watkins said he has gone over all of the permutations and possible ways the points could turn out this weekend. He said there are multiple ways Canton Academy can win. Watkins said there also are ways CCA can win. All of those possibilities depend on each team’s performers to be at their best. Watkins feels the experience from last season will help his athletes rise to the occasion.
“Last year there was that doubt of can we do it after finishing second,” Watkins said. “After doing it, it is more attainable and the guys know we can do it after finishing second at North State.”
Watkins said all of the top eight finishers will be crucial to picking up points toward the final tallies. He said the Rams will rely on their strength in the distance events. At the Class AA North State meet, the school’s 4×400 (3 minutes, 56.12 seconds) and its 4×800 team (9:49.06) finished first. Chris Webber also won the 1,600 (5:30.02) and the 3,200 (12:37.90) on a day that featured gusts of 25-30 mph. Nate Parker finished second in the 1,600 (5:37.75), while Ian Misiak took third in the 3,200 (13:11.88). Glenn Misiak won the 800 (2:18.40), while Parker took second (2:21.24).
Glenn Misiak, who also won the 400 (54.20), said the team went in with a similar mind-set to last season. He said it didn’t faze any of the members of the team that there were only seven of them, just like last season. In 2016, Elijah Carlstrom and Aaron Meek, who is the brother of Jordan Meek, helped the Rams win a state title.
This season, Misiak is confident about the team’s chances because he feels some of the top performers in the state from the South will help offset the advantages top teams in the North — like Canton Academy — have against CCA.
“I think we’re ready. I think we know what we have to do,” Misiak said. “I think our chances (at winning another state title) are pretty good.”
Webber agrees. Like Watkins, he likes to study the times to see what the Rams will have to do. He admitted he didn’t think the team would have a chance to be able to win another title, but he said everyone has picked up the pace to put the team in position to do it again.
“I have a feeling we’re going to run a lot faster in Jackson,” Webber said, referring to the windy conditions last weekend. “We almost have more of a chance because we’re entered in more events than last year. This year is like the best we have done in sprints.”
Parker competed in the long jump last season but didn’t qualify for the state meet. This year, he is competing in the 300 hurdles, which he won with a time of 43.06 last weekend. Watkins said Parker ran a faster time this year despite the windy conditions and a stone bruise on his heel.
Last season, CCA scored 86 points to make history. It outdistanced Tallulah Academy, which finished second with 77 points, and Central Holmes and Canton Academy, which tied for third (71). The championship was Columbus Christian’s third (cross country, boys basketball) of the school year.
Kimarri Whitfield, Dawson Shaw, and Jordan Meek also will compete for the Rams, who will rely on the knowledge that they rallied from a one-point deficit entering the 3,200, the next-to-last-event, in 2016 and used a one-two finish in the 3,200 to power to a championship.
“We have had to shuffle some different ones around, and Glenn’s speed has really picked up,” Watkins said. “We qualified in the 4×100 and just barely missed out in the 4×200, which was big. The 4×800 we won it and I feel good about our guys in it. Last year in the 4×400, we qualified sixth or seventh and finished fourth. This year, we have got the second-fastest time going up there, so we could win that, which would be a big 10 points. We could need that at the end.”
The meet will be the final competition for Shaw, who has recovered from an anterior cruciate ligament injury he suffered at the beginning of the football season. He returned to run cross country and to play on the school’s boys basketball and baseball teams. He has the confidence that his six teammates will be able to shoulder the load and lead the team to another title.
“I just love watching them run,” Shaw said. “I don’t really do much in distance or anything. I am just glad to be going. They are a great group. They’ll win. I know they will win.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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