Gators take gold at state meet

Published 12:00 am Saturday, May 9, 2009

PEARL — Vicksburg High entered just six events at the Class 4A State Track and Field Championships, but still managed to make a strong medal run with two golds, two silvers and a bronze.

Carlos Williams, the Vicksburg Post’s Defensive Player of the Year in football, repeated as the gold medalist in the 4A boys shot put and the Gators’ 4×100 boys relay team took gold and added a silver in the 4×200 relay.

The performances made outgoing Vicksburg boys track coach Gary Lewis proud.

Email newsletter signup

Sign up for The Vicksburg Post's free newsletters

Check which newsletters you would like to receive
  • Vicksburg News: Sent daily at 5 am
  • Vicksburg Sports: Sent daily at 10 am
  • Vicksburg Living: Sent on 15th of each month

“I’m so happy for my guys. They promised me they were going to win a gold in at least one of the (sprint) relay events. I was hoping we would get two, but I have take my hat off to the McComb team in the 4×200. They ran a great race and we had to be happy with second,” said Lewis, a former assistant coach at Alcorn State who is leaving Vicksburg High to work on his doctoral dissertation.

The Gators’ win in the 4×100 moved them into third place in the team standings after 11 events with 42 points, just five behind Oxford’s 47. But with just one event left in the 200, they had no chance at the team title.

That was something Lewis said should be a goal for his replacement.

For Gator seniors Malcolm Butler, Colby Smith and Donnie Hamlin, taking home a gold in their final athletic event at Vicksburg High was something to cherish.

Two Gators, Butler and Calvin, had to run the 4×100 twice because of a clock malfunction. After Butler made the exchange to Calvin following the first 100 meters, the track announcer told the teams to stop and come back. They were allowed a 10-minute cooloff before restarting the race.

“It didn’t bother me too much to run it again,” Butler said. “I like running the 100 meters.”

Butler has signed to play football next fall at Hinds Community College, but he is also eyeing to stay with track.

“I would love to work on my 400 time this summer and if I can get it down, under 48, I want to run track at Hinds. I’m happy we won the 4×100, though. We had had a few problems on the handoffs during the season,  but we worked on it a lot this week and were ready,” Butler said.

The second restart did come back to hurt Calvin. He had little left in the 200 meter dash and had to retire with a hamstring pull and placed seventh. It was the only event out of the six on the day the Gators did not medal.

Calvin did get second place in the 100 meter dash, coming in at 10.80 seconds. Gentry’s Renaldo Hollingbird won the event in 10.64 and McComb’s Ashley Lamarvin was third.

The day’s most dominating performance came in the shot put as Williams crushed his competition with a toss of 54 feet, 10 inches. The heave was five feet better than the second-place finisher from Gautier.

After a toss of 53 feet on his second throw, Williams let it be known the gold was his.

*

Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com