Jerquavious Lowery, Michael Mosley, Khristan Watson and the 4×200 relay team each finished first to lead the Columbus High School boys track and field team to second place in the MHSAA Class 5A Championships on Friday and Saturday at the Woody Barnett Track & Field Complex in Pearl.
The Falcons finished with 72 points, trailing only Brookhaven’s 150. Hattiesburg (63.5), Canton (57) and Callaway (52) rounded out the top five.
Lowery’s win came in the 200 meters in 21.74 seconds. He also took second in the 100 in 11.33.
Mosley finished first in the 400 in 50.53 seconds. He finished right behind Lowery in the 100, taking third in 11.42.
Watson soared over 6 feet, 8 inches to win the high jump. Teammate Darius Miller placed third at 6 feet.
Deion Williams (21-10.0) placed second, and Deroyce Williams (21-1.0) took fifth in the long jump for the Falcons.
New Hope’s 4×400 team finished fifth in 3:36.45 to earn four points for the Trojans, while West Point’s 4×100 earned three points with a sixth-place finish in 44.22.
In the girls 5A championships, Columbus (13th, 25) and New Hope (14th, 21) finished close in the standings but took different methods to get there.
The Trojans got big points from the 4×800 team, which finished second in 10:33.47, and Jakiya Lewis, who placed second in the shot put (33-11.75). Also scoring for New Hope were Megan Webb (5th, 2:31.63) and Keturah Johnson (8th, 2:44.37) in the 800.
On the other hand, the Falcons had eight entries earn points, led by Cierra Crusoe, who finished third in the shot put (33-6.25) and fourth in the discus (82-8). Meyon Foster also finished fourth, running the 100 hurdles in 16.56.
Also for Columbus, Johnasia O’Neal was fifth in the 300 hurdles (49.86), Mashanti Saddler took seventh in the long jump (16-5.50), and Dariyah Webb placed eighth in the high jump (4-8). The 4×800 team finished eighth in 11:26.25.
West Point’s 4×100 team finished eighth in 50.59.
Class 6A
Sterling Scott captured the long jump (23-7.50) and triple jump (48-6.0) to lead Starkville to ninth place in the Class 6A meet.
Grady Stewart finished sixth in the 400 (51.04) for the Yellow Jackets, while Braylon Burnside’s 6-0 high jump was good for seventh. Starkville’s 4×200 team earned a point by finishing eighth in 1:31.76.
The Starkville girls were paced by Diamond Brooks, who finished second in the long jump with a leap of 17-9.75. Veronica Dunne took sixth in the pole vault, clearing 9 feet. The Jackets’ other points came from relays, with the 4×200 finishing third (1:43.79) and the 4×100 taking seventh (49.77).
Clinton won both 6A titles, with the girls totaling 150 points and the boys 140. Starkville’s boys totaled 29 points, while the girls finished with 18.5 points in 14th place.
Class 4A
Emma Ruffin and Alexis Wilburn each recorded a second-place finish to pace Caledonia’s girls to a 13th-place total of 23 points.
Ruffin finished second in the 3,200 in 12:46.70, well under her seed time of 13:09. Wilburn’s second place came in the high jump, where she cleared 5-2. Tee Lathan finished fifth in that event for the Cavaliers at 5-0.
The Cavs’ girls other points came from the 4×800 team, which finished sixth in 11:14.57.
Bobby Schultz had the best finish among the Caledonia boys, finishing third in the shot put with a heave of 43-8.25. Logan Burges finished sixth (9-6) in the pole vault, while Wyatt Enger took seventh (106-10) in the discus.
Class 1A
The West Lowndes boys and girls teams each finished with six points.
On the girls side, those points came from Kerrigan Clark, who finished third in the 100 in 13.61. The boys’ points came from the 4×400 (5th, 3:49.59) and the 4×800 (7th, 10:42.23).
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