VHS relay team gets silver, bronze at state meet

Published 9:58 pm Saturday, May 5, 2018

PEARL — The Vicksburg High girls’ 4×100 and 4×200 meter relay teams came into the MHSAA Class 5A state meet undefeated, but they were also facing their greatest challenge yet.

The Missy Gators rose to meet it, but so did the competition.

The team of Kiona Patton, Taylor Gray, Markia Anderson and Shadia Cain posted personal-best times in both events, but had to settle for second place in the 4×200 and third in the 4×100.

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“We ran faster than we have all year on our relays. You can’t ask for much more than that,” Vicksburg coach Dee Robinson-Cable said. “I knew that coming in it was going to be pretty tough, but I knew that these girls, they train just as well as we do, but we work hard too. We want the fruits of our labor to pay off as well. It did. We got on the podium.”

A slightly different lineup of Cain, Char’Davia Anderson, Ashley Barnes and Markia Anderson also medaled, finishing second in the team’s final event of the meet, the 4×400 meter relay.

The Missy Gators finished the 4×200 in 1:43.17, while Hattiesburg won with a time of 1:42.29.
In the 4×100, the Missy Gators fell to third behind Laurel and Center Hill. Center Hill’s winning time was 49.23, while Laurel finished in 49.31 and the Missy Gators in 49.41.

The bronze medal snapped a four-year reign for Vicksburg as state champions in the 4×100. The Missy Gators weren’t satisfied after finishing second in the 4×200, but were visibly upset after coming in third in the 4×100 event they’d dominated for so long.

“We could’ve done better, but I guess that wasn’t the plan,” Patton said. “This is my last year, and we didn’t hold the title.”

Patton said their finish was even more frustrating since they got their personal best but still didn’t come out victorious.

“Going through all the track meets, coming out on top, and get to the last one, a very important one, and not making it on top is very tough,” Patton said.

Gray said she was so focused on winning that coming in second and third felt like a letdown.

“I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it,” Gray said. “I feel like we did what we could do. We didn’t do our best, because if we did our best we would’ve come in first. We had a lot more competition than we usually did. We worked as a team.”

Robinson-Cable understood the disappointment, but also said the Missy Gators didn’t need to beat themselves up over the color of their medal when the time they posted was better than they’d ever run.

“So I think with the 4×200 they were a little more complacent even though they weren’t just happy about it, but they knew that they had run their best,” Robinson-Cable said. “If you get your best and the other team outruns you, they just outran you. And we’re fine with that. We got our personal best, we ran a good time, so I’m good with it. The good thing about it is that PR got us to the podium. We got the silver.”

In the other events, Gray finished seventh in the 200 meter dash with a time of 26.96 seconds. Jordan Davis finished sixth in the triple jump, jumping 34 feet, 6 1/2 inches.

Davis and Char’Davia Anderson finished fifth and sixth in the 100 meter hurdles, respectively, with times of 16.88 and 16.89 seconds, and Davis finished fifth in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 49.96 seconds. Brandi Dillon came in sixth in the shot put with a length of 31 feet, 2 ¾ inches.

Vicksburg’s performance gave Robinson-Cable plenty to be excited for in the future.

“Brandi ended up finishing sixth in shot put and discus. She’s a ninth-grader, and it’s good to be here,” Robinson-Cable said. “If you’re a ninth-grader and you can make it to the state meet, hey that says a lot about your character, that says a lot about your will, you have lots of drive, that’s just a personality that you want as you continue to build a program.”

Robinson-Cable also said that the experience Davis got would be very valuable.

“It’s going to be great for next year, because now they know when they get to a state meet they have to really compete it’s a good thing for her, it’s a great experience,” Robinson-Cable said.
The Vicksburg boys finished seventh in the 4×100 meter relay with a time of 44.64 seconds, and Robert Jones came in sixth in the long jump, jumping 19 feet and 8 1/4 inches.