Lady Wildcats win second straight meet
MAGNOLIA – El Dorado’s varsity girls won their second track meet in a row Thursday, edging Magnolia by 20 points in the Panther Relays. The Lady Wildcats scored 187 to Magnolia’s 167 with Texarkana (134.5) and Crossett (67.5) in hot pursuit.
“We used this meet as an opportunity to try and automatically qualify a few events, so we didn't load the girls up with events like we did at Oil Belt,” said El Dorado coach John Koonce. “We were successful in auto
matically qualifying the 4x100 meter relay in addition to Davin James automatically qualifying in the high jump. Carshaila Rozier also hit an automatic qualifying mark for the high jump, even though she had already qualified because of her performance in Prescott.
“Other standouts were D'Aja Dade and Jordan Smith in the 100. D'Aja broke the 13-second barrier for the first time this season, and Jordan ran the third fastest time an El Dorado girl has ran this season in her first ever attempt at the open 100 at the varsity level. Jordan also won the long jump. She has turned into a very solid utility type athlete. It doesn't matter what the event is. She will step up and take care of business.”
Rozier won the 200 and the high jump. James also tied for the high jump title at 5-4. Emma McGee won the 1,600 and 3,200 and Smith leaped 16-06 to win the long jump and was third in the 200 and fourth in the 100.
Breyonna Steward was second in the triple jump, second in the long jump and third in the 400. Charalyn Rester was third in the 100 hurdles. Tajah Edmondson was third in the triple jump. D’Aja Dade was third in the 100. Priya Dod was fourth in the 1,600. London Ingram was fourth in the 400. Kamya Bryant and Justice Larry tied for fourth in the shot.
“I still want to give a shout out to Anastasia Brock in the pole vault. We haven't had a female pole vaulter at El Dorado in quite some time, so she is really a trail blazer for us in that event,” said Koonce.
“This was a meet where we were down a few girls, so it was impressive to see the ladies step up and handle the business regardless of that fact. We have pretty good depth this year, and that is starting to show.”
El Dorado’s boys finished third with 76 points behind Magnolia (180.33) and Texarkana (179.66) and ahead of Crossett (68) and Camden Fairview (61).
DeAndra Burns, Jr., won the 400 (50.57) and was third in the long jump. Eloy Rodriguez was second in the 3,200 and fourth in the 1,600. Quez Waller was fourth in the 100.
El Dorado will compete at Camden Fairview next week.
“We are probably going to use this meet to focus on individual races,” said Koonce. “We may also use this event to put some kids in events they haven't done before if their practices next week show that they are ready for those events.”