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Warren Central's Chester Savage clears the final hurdle on his way to victory Thursday in the boys' 300 meter hurdles at WC's Viking Invitational track meet. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Ka'ryn Henderson (4) takes the baton from Amiyah Montgomery in the girls' 4x100 meter relay Thursday at the Viking Invitational track meet at WC. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg's Dennis Battle, right, and Warren Central's Gavin Davenport wait for their teammates to pass them the baton for the anchor leg of the 4x100 meter boys' "Big Man" relay at the Viking Invitational track meet on Thursday. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg High's Casey Brown runs in the boys' 1,600 meters at the Viking Invitational track meet Thursday at Warren Central. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Will Bates leads Provie teammates Damaurien Graves and Marquis Devine around the track during the boys' 1,600 meter run Thursday at the Viking Invitational track meet. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Cora Lindsay runs in the girls' 1,600 meters at the school's Viking Invitational track meet on Thursday. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Abigail De Jesus runs in the girls' 1,600 meters at the school's Viking Invitational track meet on Thursday. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central didn’t literally have the track to itself on Thursday, but it sure felt like it.

The host Vikings won 27 of the 36 events against a slimmed-down field and ran away with both the girls’ and boys’ team titles at their season-opening Viking Invitational meet.

Four schools dropped out of the meet at the last minute, leaving only Warren Central, Vicksburg High and Provine to compete. It gave the event the feel of a practice meet rather than a big season opener in many events, but there were still some championship-caliber performances.

Warren Central’s Dwight Palmer clocked a blazing-fast 10.77 seconds in the boys’ 100 meters for one of his four race victories.

Palmer also won the 200 meters in 22.22 seconds, the 400 meters in 52.23 seconds, and teamed with Chester Savage, Michael Hall and Landon Green to win the 4×200 meter relay in 1:31.59.

Savage was also a four-time winner, taking both the 110 and 300 meter hurdles in 16.27 and 42.18 seconds, respectively, and then teaming up with Rohan Caples, Jackson Streif and Ashton Wright to win the 4×400 relay.

Caples added the 800 meters to his victory in the 4×400.

Ricky Neal swept the jumping events — high, long and triple — for the Vikings, and Will Bates won both distance races in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters. Gavin Davenport was also a dual winner, in the discus and shot put.

Warren Central racked up 177 points to win the team title. Vicksburg, whose only victory came in the 4×100 meter relay, was second with 89 points and Provine was third with 62.

In the girls’ meet, Warren Central totaled 169 points to win the team title. Vicksburg was second with 82 points and Provine third with 66.

For Warren Central, Adria Burrell won three sprint events, Cora Lindsay won two distance events, Arrionna Jenkins won two field events and Madison Ward was a double winner in the high jump and 100 meter hurdles.

Burrell, the reigning MHSAA Class 6A champion in the 200 meters, got her quest for a repeat off to a good start by clocking a time of 25.88 seconds in Thursday’s race.

Burrell also won the 100 meters in 12.18 seconds and the 400 meters in 1:03.25.

Lindsay was nearly a minute ahead of teammate Abigail DeJesus in the 1,600 meters, and 90 seconds ahead of her in the 3,200. Lindsay won the 1,600 in 6:41.32 and the 3,200 in 14:43.57.

Jenkins opened the day for the Lady Vikes with victories in the discus (88 feet, 1 inch) and shot put (33 feet, 11 inches), while Ward cleared 4-10 to win the high jump.

Ward later added her hurdles victory with a time of 16.79 seconds.

Other girls’ winners for Warren Central were Kayla Parson in the 800 meters; the 4×100 meter relay of Za’Mya Malone, Arielle Ward, Amiyah Montgomery and Ka’ryn Henderson; and the 4×800 meter relay of Mere Smith, Parson, Heavenly Caples and Chanice Anderson.

For Vicksburg, freshman Zion Knox was a double winner in the long jump and triple jump. She won the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 2 1/2 inches, and the triple jump with a mark of 36-8. Knox is the reigning Class 6A champion in the triple jump.

Makynzie Edmond won the 300 meter hurdles in 50.50 seconds, and the 4×200 meter relay team of Aubrey Turner, To’nia Taylor, Amiyah Hall and Ja’Kayla Curry won in 1:52.48.

The next meet on the schedule is also in Warren County. Vicksburg will take its turn as host for the Gator Invitational on Wednesday, March 4. Field events and distance runs start at 1 p.m., and the rest of the running events at 2. Tickets are $8 and can be purchased at GoFan.co.

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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