CHOCOWINITY – After taking some time off the Southside track and field team is back and as strong as ever as the Seahawks took second place in Saturday’s NCHSAA 1-A East Regional meet held at Pamlico High School by tallying 82 points.
Led by an outstanding effort by Tony Grice, who was named the Four Rivers Conference Player of the Year, MVP of the regional meet and MVP of the field events, Southside qualified for nine events in this Saturday’s state meet which will be held at N.C. A&T.
“We carried only a few guys but they really stepped up,” Southside’s first-year track and field coach DeWayne Kellum said. “I thought I might have pushed them too hard but when it came down to the 4×4, a race we really needed, they stepped up even though they were exhausted.”
Grice, along with Curtis Meyers, Brandon Jordan and John Stokes were part of that 4×400 relay team that was able to grind out a first place finish by running a 3:34.25.
James Jones advanced to the state meet in the discus where his throw of 123-feet, four-inches enabled him to take fourth.
Grice was on fire Saturday as he also took first in the 200-meter dash (22.8) and triple jump (43-feet, three-inches), while nabbing a silver in the long jump (21-feet, six-inches).
“He works hard and he really wanted it,” Kellum said of Grice.
Jordan dominated the hurdles as he ran a 16.07 in the 110-meter hurdles to place second and a 43.68 in the 300-meter hurdles to earn another silver. Jordan also helped the 4×200-meter relay team advance as he teamed up with Renalda Randolph, Stokes and Myers to run a 1:34.00 and just make the cut to advance by placing fourth.
Myers had a phenomenal meet as he blazed through the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.69 to take first. Myers also soared six-feet, five-inches in the high jump to lock up gold.
Kellum said he was extremely pleased with the effort his team has put in, not only on Saturday, but the whole season.
“I was really impressed by the way these kids stepped up. We started with 27 kids and ended up with about 14,” Kellum said. “We didn’t have track last year and these guys, Tony and some of the seniors, really wanted it and that’s why I did it. Thank God they knew more about it than I did.”
Southside also got a strong effort from Jeffrey Moore who threw the shot put 41-feet, six-inches to place seventh in the region.