Photo by Kim Coleman
OXFORD, Miss. — Bolton High School’s varsity track and field team brought home multiple top-10 placements from the annual Ole Miss High School Invitational on March 21.
Artavius Gray, a senior, was one of the key performers of the meet. After just coming to Bolton from Florida, he is already turning heads in the running community. He finished third in the men’s 300-meter hurdles, second in the 100-meter hurdles, first in the long jump and first in the triple jump.
Other top performances on the men’s side were sophomore Blayne Harrison in the 1,600-meter with a new personal record (PR) of 5 minutes and 9 seconds and Brody Myers in the pole vault with a jump of 10 feet, yet another PR.
The Bolton girls had even more notable performances.
The women’s 4×100-meter relay team (Erica Minnis, Hannah McKinney, Taya Askew and Dionna Warner) finished seventh place overall, while the women’s 4×400-meter relay team (Special Williams, Ebony Luster, Jamara Washington and McKinney) placed third.
“It was very fast paced, but my teammates were a bit faster in helping us win,” said Askew, who runs the third leg of the 4×100. “I really enjoyed running on that track, and the 4×100 is my favorite race to run.”
Along with titles in the women’s 4×400, many of the relay girls managed to snag even more points for Bolton in other women’s events: Washington got third in the 300-meter hurdles and sixth in the 100-meter hurdles. Luster also placed seventh in the 300-meter hurdles and tied for 10th place in the high jump with teammate Warner.
Junior Caroline Daniels finished 10th in the 3,200-meter, and Halley Brown placed seventh in the 1,600-meter, also setting a new PR, and ninth in the 800-meter.
The school took 30-plus athletes to the meet along with head coach Donald Myers, distance coach Lorna Brown and thrower/shot put coach Brandon Smith.
Myers said, “Overall, both teams showed they could compete, but there is a lot of work to do. We are not where we need to be by any stretch.”
The team practices every day after school, working on everything from handoffs to repeats to form. This is only Bolton’s third race of the season, and they have continued to progress. Brown broke the school record for the 1,600-meter at Houston on March 25, and many more team members have set PRs.
The Wildcats travel to Bartlett High School to compete in the Panther Relays on April 4 and 5, along with the Houston Classic on April 11 and 12.
Written by Halley Brown, special to The Bartlett Express. For more information on Bolton sports, see their new athletics web site.
