CARROLLTON Continued bad luck, this time by way of an injury, derailed Jones County from going for the win in the boys 100-meter relay and 4x100 relay at last week’s GHSA Class AAAAA state track championships in Carrollton.
But that didn’t mean there was a lack of noise being made by the Greyhounds and Lady Greyhounds during the course of the three-day event at Grisham Stadium.
Senior Austin Hanks wrapped up his track career with a pair of personal records in field events, placing second in the shot put with a throw of 52.03.50 and coming in fourth in the discus, throwing 156-09.00. Jayden Smith’s throw of 51-07.75 gave the Hounds another top finish in the shot put as he finished fourth.
Jaivon Solomon was also sixth in the triple jump at 45-10.75.
But the driving toward the top of the leaderboard and striving toward personal bests far from finished for Jones County. In what’s becoming a broken record, the Greyhounds and Lady Greyhounds distance runners served more reminders to the state that they are a force to be reckoned with any time that they step up to the starting line.
Each spring, many runners from the JCHS cross country programs, now among the state’s top 10, shift gears to distance events in track and field. They wrapped up that segment of the season in Carrollton with the Lady Greyhounds walking away from Saturday with a finish of third in the state on a season-best time of 9:45.11 on a team of Isabella Sanchez, Lilly Palmer, Addison Robinson and Camryn Wommack.
An impetus for Saturday’s run actually came the day before, when one of the runners, Addison Robinson, had misfortune during one of her events.
“On the way home, there wasn’t much talking because Addison was upset about the race. We got back home, turned the car off and said, ‘every state meet isn’t going to be rainbows and unicorns; you’re going to have adversity. The way that you handle it is key,’” Greyhounds coach Geoff Moore said. “We talked about going to bed and waking up (Saturday) and having a great day.
They woke up and came out here ready to go.”
That was evident as the race began.
Sanchez put the Lady Greyhounds in front on the race’s first leg, giving them the lead through the first half of the relay, an edge that helped JCHS finish third.
“She’s just a freshman but is so talented,” Moore said of Sanchez. “We always worry about jitters, but when the girls see that, they say, ‘we can’t let each other down.’” That determination resulted in one of, if not the best finish in program history in the 4x800 relay.
“These four girls, they’re like sisters.
It’s a year-round thing. We’ll take about two weeks off and go back into it and into cross country,” Moore said.
“They run for each other and hold each accountable.”
Jones County’s distance-running showing at state was not contained to one event, as that overall determination showed in two other events for the Lady Hounds. Palmer and Wommack ran season-best times of 11:40.64 and 12:24.47 to finish seventh and 13th. In the 1600 meters, Robinson ran to a fourth-place and season-best 5:13.50 with Sanchez and Palmer timing in 12th and 13th at 5:32.07 and 5:42.07. Palmer and Wommack ran times of 11:40.64 and 12:24.47 to finish seventh and 13th in the 3200 meters, also season bests.
In the boys 1600 meters, Luke Thornton and Tyler Marshall set season bests, running times of 4:28.66 and 4:38.68 to finish ninth and 11th.
Thornton and Marshall also set season-best times with finishes of seventh and ninth in the 3200 meters with times of 9:30.56 and 9:40.38 as Gavin Robinson was 13th, running a 10:01.91. The 4x800 relay team of the Greyhounds ran a season-best 8:29.41 to finish 12th with that relay being made up of Ian Borsahole, Grady Newby, Tyler Marshall and Andrew Marshall.
“The program has taken a jump,” Moore said “I’ve had coaches ask what we’re doing differently, but it’s the kids that are different. They’re buying in and believing the little things, that makes a huge difference.”
