Back from spring break, the Madison County High School track boys’ squad had its full complement of team members Saturday. In other words: bad news for the rest of the field at the Jefferson Relays.
The Red Raiders scored 122 points and won the larger-classification division easily, beating second-place Mill Creek (86.5 points) by 35.5 points.
This victory was the first in MCHS history in the Jefferson event.
“Our boys did an exceptional job of rising to the occasion and performing well … I hope we can keep up the great work and let this all carry over into the region meet when it all matters,” first-year Red Raider coach Jamie Sims said.
Sims noted that Madison County beat last year’s Class AAAA state champion, Miller Grove (25 points), “so that was also a good sign,” he said.
Nine teams participated in Group 1 of the Jefferson Relays. Group 2 was reserved for smaller schools.
Once again, senior standout Jamal Cooper proved to be a points machine, winning two events (long jump, 100-meter dash) and helping the 4 x 100 team (T.J. McGuire, Cooper, Kendrick Butler and Stan Maxwell) to a first-place finish.
Cooper jumped a 21’5” in the finals to win the long jump and ran a 10.87 in the finals of the 100-meter dash to win that event. Cooper ran the second leg of the 4 x 100 team, which clocked a 42.41 to beat Miller Grove by .11 seconds.
Madison County was also bolstered by second-place finishes from T.J. McGuire in the high jump and the 110 meter hurdles and Jeffery Hicks in the pole vault.
The Red Raiders had third-place finishes from Kendrick Butler in the triple jump, Stan Maxwell in the high jump, McGuire in the 300 meter hurdles, the distance medley team (Codey Brakhage, Drew Cofer, Dalton Owensby and Corey Brakhage) and the 4 x 400 relay team (Maxwell, Cooper, McGuire and Butler).
It all added up to another team victory for Madison County, which has won all but two events this year. The Red Raiders’ two losses came during spring break when the team was short-staffed.
Other points:
•Marquis Thomas (sixth, long jump)
•Keidrick Curry (fourth, triple jump)
•T.J. Allen (fifth, pole vault)
•Demetris Pattman (eighth, shot put)
•Matt Dove (sixth, discus)
•Kendrick Butler (fourth, 100 meter dash)
•Cooper, LaShawne Willingham, Maxwell and Corey Brakhage (fourth, 1,600 sprint relay)
•Kardashian Johnson, Michael Burden, Curry and Stanquavious Mack, 4 x 200 relay team)
•Corey Brakhage, Codey Brakhage, Dalton Owensby and Mauro Ortiz (fourth, 4 x 800 relay team).
