STEENS — Columbus Christian Academy track and field is back, and the Rams were well-represented at the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools track and field championships in Flowood over the weekend.
The Rams sent 15 athletes, nine boys and six girls, to state championships, the most in a few years as CCA’s track and field program took a dip in participation.
“We’re just kind of resurrecting it really,” Rams track and field coach Billy Thomas said. “Last year, we had one girl even go out for track. This year, we had six qualify for the state meet.”
Overall, the Rams posted top five finishes in eight events, medaling in four events. On the girls side, Kayla Mercer had the best performance of the day, finishing tied for third in high jump with an attempt of 4 feet, 4 inches.
Of the other girls participants, Presley Andrews placed sixth in shot put, Harliegh Raduenz placed eighth in triple jump, Julia Ladd placed seventh in high jump, Carmen Ferraez placed eighth in the 3,200-meter run and McKenzie Kain placed seventh in the 1,600-meter run.
“We’re extremely pleased with the performance,” Thomas said. “We’ve won state track meets before. We’ve won a state championship and we’re just trying to get it back to where we were. That takes a little bit of time to build a program and that’s what we set out to do this year.”
The boys team fared much better, finishing fourth overall among Class 2A teams, with seven top-five finishers.
The 3,200-meter relay team of Garrett Weathers, Luke Phillips, Tyler Phillips and David Easterling and the 1,600-meter relay team of Easterling, Phillips, Drake Shaw and Gabe Wanzer both placed third.
CCA also had fifth place finishes in the 800-meter relay from the team of Weathers, Shaw, Jonah Harrison and Phillips, Brayden Shenton in the shot put, Phillips in the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs and Shaw in the long jump.
“What we set out to do this year was to get as many guys and girls qualified at the overall track meet as we could,” Thomas said. “We felt like we had a lot of participation and d
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