Eagles fly into area meet
Washington head girls track and field coach Loretta Edwards knows what it’s like to compete against the best.
After graduating from Washington, Edwards starred at Prairie View A&M University and qualified for the 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials, just missing a trip to the Los Angeles Summer Olympics. “I ran against Florence Griffith-Joyner and some of the all-time greats,” Edwards said. “It was a lot of fun.”
Now Edwards is training what she hopes will be the next generation of standouts at Washington.
Edwards is off to a fine start, with the Eagles winning first place at the District 22-4A Track and Field Championships last week at Barnett Sports Complex. Washington tallied 135 points to beat Wheatley with 107. Furr was third with 105, followed by Scarborough with 54, Sterling with 50, Kashmere with 44 and Worthing with 29.
“Early in the year, we were in a lot of meets against Class 6A and 5A schools and we didn’t do very well. The girls were upset about not winning any medals,” Edwards said. “I told them it would pay off when we got to district. Now they believe me.”
The top two district finishers advance to the Class 4A-Region III Track and Field Championships on Friday and Saturday, April 29-30, at Sam Houston State University’s Bowers Stadium.
Edwards said it took plenty of hard work for the Eagles to build a winner. She had to recruit the hallways at Washington to find athletes.
“I got a Miss Washington to come out for track, a dancer and a couple members of the band,” Edwards said. “We also brought in a few from other sports.”
While Washington lacks depth, the Eagles had just enough to won the District 22-4A crown.
The key to victory was sweeping all three relays.
“That gave us a lot of points,” Edwards said.
The 4x100-meter relay got Washington off to a fast start, with senior Jena Jeffrey and juniors Rashauna Bryant, Elysia Chavalier and Mya Vaughn winning with a time of 52.05 seconds. The 4x200 relay, featuring the same four runners, also prevailed in 1:54.39.
The Eagles earned a victory lap and the team trophy, with the foursome of senior Cameron Lavergne, Vaughn, sophomore Destiny Thomas and freshman Tia Smith taking the 4x400 relay in 4:38.10.
Washington won only one individual event, with Jeffrey soaring 16 feet, 9 ¼ inches to grab the long jump title.
Second-place finishers and regional qualifiers were Jeffrey in the 100 (11.90), Lavergne in the long jump (15-11) and senior Taylor Brown in the shot put (26-5).
Coming in third were Chavalier in the 100 (13.23), Thomas in the 800 (2:48.52) and freshman Kennedy Jackson in the 100 hurdles (19.74) and 300 hurdles (55.30).
On the boys’ side, Washington wasn’t in the title picture, but there were several highlights for the Eagles.
Freshman Michael Bess won the 1,600 (5:07.31) and 3,200 (11:25.02), while sophomore Kameran Day took the triple jump (39-11 ¼) and was second in the long jump (20-9).
Senior Avery Booker qualified for regionals by finishing second in the discus (119-6), one spot ahead of junior Wesley Randall (101-0).