Solid, not dominant

JEFFERSON CITY— The Waynesville High School track teams didn’t dominate in the 2009 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships on Saturday in Jefferson City, but they finished with enough points to place in the top 15. The Tiger boys finished seventh in Class 4 with 24 points, while the Lady Tigers placed 13th with 18 points.

Solomon Williams led the Tiger boys in points, winning the state championship in the 110-meter hurdles at 13.93, fourth in the long jump at 22-9 1/4 and fourth in the triple jump at 47-2 1/2 (see story on Williams below for more details on his victory).

For the Lady Tigers, Jasmine Reynolds placed the highest, finishing second in the high jump with a jump of 5-5.

Defending 100-meter dash state champion Ekate Lymon failed to take her second title in that race. Lymon finished eighth with a time of 12.19 after an injury halfway through the race.

After she realized she had pulled her quad, she said, "I had to quit on it." She wanted to avoid a serious injury so she could run the 200-meter dash later that day.

She said she was fine for the 200 after stretching, but ended up placing fifth when the injury flared up again at the end of the race.

After her 2008 state championship in the 100 and third-place finish in the 200, one would have expected her to be at least a little disappointed. But Lymon said that wasn't the case.

"I still got to sit on the podium," she reasoned after receiving her 200 medal on Saturday. "It's weird...usually I get mad if I'm not in the top three or last. But not today."

Throwers make strides

With Lymon and Williams the only WHS athletes medaling in running events, it's safe to say that field events gave the Tiger teams solid placings— Williams and Reynolds in the jumping events but also throwers Taeshaun Agee and Roxanna Koke.

Agee, in his first and only year as a thrower, medaled in the shot put with a put of 54-1 1/2 on Saturday. He was also a solid discus thrower during the season, recording the longest throw in the state during the district meet but failing to get out of the sectional round last week.

"For him to do what he did, coming in his first year, is phenomenal," said throwing coach Daniel Kania.

Kania said that when Agee started the season, his farthest put was around 40 or 42 feet.

"Finishing the season with a 12-foot improvement....he's made the kinds of gains in his first year that many other shot putters hope to make in four years," Kania said.

Those gains were good enough for him to throw collegiately: next year at Neosho County Community College he'll throw the discus, shot put and hammer.

"I think [next year] Taeshaun's really going to open some eyes wide," Kania said.

As for Koke, she's only a junior. As a sophomore in 2008 she also qualified for state in the shot put.

This year, though, she had a few problems late in the season.

"She was in a bit of a funk these last few weeks," Kania said. "But she came back from it. She worked very hard to place at state."

Koke said she thought it was mental, but wasn't sure quite what she did to get out of it other than work on technique.

"But I think I could have done a lot better," she said.

Look for the Tiger throwers to help the whole team pull in lots of points next year. Although the boys will lose Agee, they return Darnez Stokes, who just missed qualifying for state in the shot put.

Stokes' brother Sean will also join the team next year. According to Kania, he regularly reached puts of 40 feet as a middle schooler.

The girls will return Koke, and also Danisha Blevins, who Kania expects will make state next year.

"We just need everyone to hit the weight room this summer," he said. "We've got lots of things to work on."

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