Warren East takes men’s title, women finish second
By Perry Swack
The Warren East men’s track and field team won its first region championship since 2019 as the Raiders tallied 104 points to capture the title. On the women’s side, Warren East was unable to defend its 2022 title but did manage to capture second place with 86 team points.
Sophomore Romello Meade kickstarted the day with a victory in the 110-meter hurdles behind a time of 15.84 seconds. He also won the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 39.90 seconds and will be the top seed at the state meet next week. Meade won a third race in the 4×200 meter relay with teammates Isaiah Ghee, Brayden Lightfoot, and Le Quentin Flippin as the quartet ran a time of 1:31.46. The Raiders fourth event victory was in the high jump as freshman Isiah Summers cleared a final round score of 6-06.00. Senior Trevor Hudnall placed second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:00.98. Ghee placed second in the long jump (21-03.00) to qualify for state, as did Connor Doyle (fourth).
The Warren Central men’s team also took four events behind strong performances from its athletes on both the track and in the field. Senior Deanglo Patterson claimed victory in both the 100-meter dash (11.12 seconds) and in the 200-meter dash (22.60 seconds). In a pre-meet interview with WC coach Aaron Carver, he mentioned the consistency that Patterson has displayed throughout his career. “In the 100 and 200-meter dash, he has won first place almost every time and should have a shot at a state championship.” Patterson will be tied for the third seed heading into the 100-meter state race and WC’s 4×100 men’s relay will be seeded first after winning the region race with a time of 43.61 seconds.
Patterson combined with Demetrius Barnett, Baird Heredia, and Malik Jefferson to clip four other relay teams as the difference in first and fifth was three-tenths of a second. The top five relay teams in the region are five of the top six seeds heading into the 4×100 race at the state meet. Jefferson went on to win the boys triple jump with a final round score of 43-05.50 and qualified for the state long jump in competition after taking sixth. Jefferson, Patterson, Damarion Walkup, and Cameron Burnett placed second in the 4×200 relay to qualify for the state meet.
On the women’s side, the Lady Raiders took two relay titles in the 100 and 200. Cheyenne Stark, Makeena Rine, Amiyah Carter, and Nahomy Miralda won the 4×100 with a time of 50.81 seconds, and Stark, Rine, Carter, and Tayanah Woods won the 4×200 with a time of 1:46.40. The 200 relay squad will be seeded first in the state meet. Woods placed second in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.75 seconds and second in the 300 hurdles at 49.54 seconds. Rine finished second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.71 seconds. Madison Lawson finished second in the triple jump with a final score of 32-06.50, as Amiyah Carter took fourth (31-08.50).
Eighth grader Brelynn Wardlow eclipsed Glasgow’s Caroline Murphy to win the girls high jump. Murphy took the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.46 seconds and the 300-meter hurdle title with a time of 46 seconds. Murphy and Woods will be the two highest seeds in the 100-meter hurdles state race. Murphy is also the top seed in the 300-meter hurdles race. Warren Central’s Marie Manirakiza captured the triple jump championship with a final score of 33-03.75.
State Qualifers
Other state qualifiers include Franklin-Simpson’s 4×100 and 4×200 relay on the women’s side (Lyniah Brown, Olivia Brown, Sa’niya Downey, Kaelyn Halmon, and Vanessa Ray). Ray also qualified for the 100 and 200-meter dash as an individual.
Glasgow also qualified for the 4×100 relay in both the men’s and women’s events as Murphy, Cynthia Austin, Keauna Brown, and Taylor Wilson (women’s relay) and Cameron Bulle, Javon Clark, Braden Kirkpatrick, and Rico Crowder (men’s relay) competed in the men’s event. Lucas Christian will be in the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles and Crowder will be in the 100-meter dash
Warren Central’s Omary Rashidi (high jump), Jenetta Shobe (discus), and Yapembe Yagabo (long jump, high jump) also qualified for the state meet.
Warren East’s 4×800 relay team of Reagan Lawson, Bailey Locke, Macy Price, and Haley Wilson qualified for the state meet after placing fourth at region, as did the men’s 4×800 relay team of Jacob Dockery, Matthew Strode, Sincere Smith, and Hudnall after placing third at region. Hudnall also qualified for the 1600-meter run after finishing third at the region meet, while Dockery qualified in the 400-meter dash. WE seniors Dratavyn Barber and Simon Ghee qualified in the shot put, while Delilah Martter will participate in the discus. Isaiah Ghee and Summers will also take part in the triple jump.
The state qualifiers from each event will now compete in Lexington on June 2 at the Clark’s Pump-n-Shop Track and Field State Championships.
