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Vicksburg High's girls' track and field team poses with the trophy after winning the MHSAA Region 2-6A championship on Monday. Vicksburg won eight events to edge crosstown rival Warren Central 161-158. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg High's Raylyn Parson takes the baton for the third leg of the girls' 4x400 meter relay Monday at the MHSAA Region 2-6A track meet. The Missy Gators won the race to also claim the team championship. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg High's Amiya Hall, left, and Warren Central's Adria Burrell compete in the girls' 100 meter dash at the MHSAA Region 2-6A track meet Monday at Memorial Stadium. Burrell won the race in 12.15 seconds and Hall finished second in 12.20 seconds. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central sprinter Dwight Palmer crosses the finish line to win the boys' 100 meter dash at the MHSAA Region 2-6A track meet Monday at Memorial Stadium. Palmer won with a time of 10.91 seconds. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg High's Amiya Hall runs in the girls' 4x200 meter relay at the MHSAA Region 2-6A track meet Monday at Memorial Stadium. Hall helped her team to a first-place finish with a time of 1:47.26. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Arielle Ward runs in the girls' 4x200 meter relay at the MHSAA Region 2-6A track meet Monday at Memorial Stadium. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg High's Nakia Jeffers runs in the girls' 4x200 meter relay at the MHSAA Region 2-6A track meet Monday at Memorial Stadium. Jeffers helped her team to a first-place finish with a time of 1:47.26. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Chester Savage competes in the boys' 110 meter hurdles at the MHSAA Region 2-6A track meet Monday at Memorial Stadium. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg High's Dennis Battle competes in the boys' high jump at the MHSAA Region 2-6A track and field meet Monday at Memorial Stadium. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Madison Ward competes in the girls' high jump at the MHSAA Region 2-6A track meet Monday at Memorial Stadium. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg High girls track and field coach Deatra Cable, center, poses for a photo with Nakia Jeffers and Zion Knox at the MHSAA Region 2-6A meet Monday at Memorial Stadium. Knox won the triple jump and Jeffers finished third. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg High's Zion Knox competes in the girls' high jump at the MHSAA Region 2-6A track meet Monday at Memorial Stadium. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Heading into the final event Monday, the Vicksburg Missy Gators had one job — win the race, win the MHSAA Region 2-6A track and field championship.

“They understood the assignment,” Vicksburg coach Deatra Cable said with a smile.

The Missy Gators’ 4×400 meter relay team of McKenzy Edmond, Xhiareia Darensburg, Raylyn Parson and To’Nia Taylor took care of business. They won the race in 4 minutes, 26.61 seconds which, combined with a fifth-place finish by Warren Central, propelled Vicksburg to its third consecutive girls’ team championship at the region meet.

Vicksburg finished with 161 points, and Warren Central with 158. The eight-point swing in the final relay — Vicksburg received 10 points for its victory and Warren Central got two for fifth place — was the difference.

“This is the best one, because I don’t have any seniors. I’ve always been graduating them and getting them as I go along. This time I know that this bunch, I’ve got them for two or three more years. Today was a great day to be a Gator,” Cable said.

Warren Central had taken the team points lead when Kayla Parson and Cora Lindsay finished second and third, respectively, in the girls’ 800 meters. Sha’Niya Matthews was sixth for Vicksburg’s top finish in the event, and the 13-point swing vaulted the Lady Vikes to the top of the leaderboard.

Vicksburg sophomore Amiya Hall beat WC senior Adria Burrell in the 200 meters — Burrell had beaten Hall in the 100 earlier in the day — to create a five-point gap going into the 4×400. Vicksburg needed to win and have Warren Central finish fourth or fifth to make up the difference.

The first three runners built a solid lead for Taylor on the anchor leg, and she needed every bit of it as Ridgeland’s Layah Marshall quickly closed a 30-meter gap. When Taylor rounded the turn into the final 100 meters her teammates ran alongside in the infield and waved her on. It provided just enough of an adrenaline boost for Taylor to hang on and win by one second — about 5 meters on the track.

Vicksburg finished with a time of 4:26.61, and Ridgeland with a time of 4:27.54.

“I can usually hear somebody running, but I didn’t really hear it. Everybody was like, ‘To’Nia, go! To’Nia go!’ and I was just running with all my might,” Taylor said. “All the pressure was on me, so I was crying after. Once you realize that everybody is calling your name it’s a lot of pressure. It hurt, but I’m very grateful because we got it done.”

The Missy Gators’ victory was their eighth of the day. Zion Knox was a double winner in the triple jump and long jump, and added a second-place finish behind her teammate Edmond in the high jump. Knox was also third in the 400 meters.

Kennedy Williams won the discus with a throw of 105 feet, 6 inches, while Hall was first in the 200 meters in 24.35 seconds.

Most importantly, the Missy Gators won three of the four relays on the card. The 4×100 team of Rocsi Stewart, Nakia Jeffers, Taylor and Hall won in 50.64 seconds, and the 4×200 team of Jeffers, Parson, Hall and Stewart won in 1:47.26

The top four finishers in each event advanced to the Class 6A North State meet April 26 at Center Hill High School. Vicksburg will have 20 entries at that meet.

“With everybody here, if they finish the same way they did today we can win state,” Cable said.

Warren Central’s girls’ team will have 19 entries at North State.
Burrell will lead the way after winning the 100 and 400 meters Monday, in 12.15 and 25.05 seconds, respectively, and finishing second in the 200 meters.

Madison Ward won the 100 meter hurdles in 16.28 seconds, and also qualified for North State in the triple jump, high jump and long jump. Lindsay had a victory in the 1,600 meters to go with her third-place effort in the 800. Arrionna Jenkins won the shot put with a mark of 34-3.

In the boys’ meet Monday, Ridgeland totaled 133 points to win a competitive battle for the team title. Callaway was second, with 128 points, Warren Central third with 117, and Vicksburg fourth with 83.

Warren Central’s Dwight Palmer continued his domination in the sprint events by winning the 100 meters (10.91 seconds), the 200 (21.43) and the 400 (49.00). He is undefeated this season in the 200 meters.

Chester Savage won the 300 meter hurdles in 41.35 seconds after clipping a hurdle and failing to advance in the 110 meter version.

Rickey Neal Jr. won the long jump with a leap of 21-3.25, and also qualified for North State in the high jump and triple jump.

Vicksburg High had two winners in the field events. Karter Thomas won the shot put with a throw of 42-10, and Marquise Knight won the triple jump with a mark of 43-5.5.

Jayden Woods and Shaun Archer also finished second and third, respectively, in the discus.

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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