POSTED ON APRIL 3, 2018 BY ALTUSTIMES
By Ryan Lewis - ryan@altustimes.com
Thursday was a good day for the Altus High School girls’ and boys’ track teams. The boys finished first despite winning just two events. The Bulldogs tallied 90.33 points on the day while Weatherford and Lawton MacArthur both finished with 75 in a tie for second place.
In the 400-meter dash, Michael James finished first for the Bulldogs with a time of 53.83 while Nehemiah McCaskill finished second with a time of 54.42. The second event won by the Bulldogs on Thursday was the 1600-meter relay where the team of Moses McCaskill, Michael James, Josh Baker and Daniel Riley ran their way to a four second win over Weatherford by finishing with a time of 3:30.25.
The Lady Bulldogs narrowly missed a first-place finish with Class 4A’s second-ranked Weatherford Lady Eagles taking first with a score of 115 and Altus falling to second with 107.
LaKysia Johnson was the lone individual champion for the Lady Bulldogs. She continued her dominance in the 300-meter hurdles, finishing second with a time of 48.3. Johnson took down last year’s third-place finisher at state, Aleigha Lowe, for the title.
Despite just one individual championship, several Lady Bulldog athletes finished runner-up in their events.
Nia Hill was second in the 400-meter dash, just three seconds shy of winner Nadia Brewer from Weatherford who ran a 1:01.26.
Kennedy Martin tied for second with Elk City’s Matti Jones in the pole vault. Jones and Martin both hit a mark of eight feet while MacArthur’s Alexis Chao finished first with a mark of 10’06”.
The 3200-meter relay team of Emily Kate Pickett, Bethany Garrison, Haley Leyja and Rylee Borrego finished second with a time of 10:50.12, well behind first-place Weatherford’s time of 10:22.69, and the team of Hill, Johnson, Borrego and Leyja finished second in the 1600-meter relay with a time of 4:20.02 behind first-place Weatherford’s 4:09.51.
The boys team also had several second-place finishes including the 800-meter relay. The team of Moses McCaskill, Nehemiah McCaskill, Baker and Riley ran a 1:32.43, narrowly missing first-place Wichita Falls Hirschi’s time of 1:32.18.
Additionally, Moses McCaskill finished second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.04, one second shy of first-place Hirschi’s Gerrick McKinney.
For the girls, Coach Robert Garrison said the meet went well for the Lady Bulldogs considering the limited practice schedule.
“It was a pretty good day,” Garrison said, “for our girls coming off Spring Break and only really being able to practice one day. Beth (Garrison) knocked 10 seconds off her 1600-time from before Spring Break, our 1600 relay is still improving, Hill is looking good in the 400 and Johnson is still dominating the 300 hurdles. But we are still just trying to improve and get better as the season continues. Right now is a great time to be a fan of track and field in Altus as both the girls and boys are ranked in the top three in the state.”
Now the Altus track teams are gearing up for the Altus Invitational on Saturday. The event is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. but the field of teams might be reduced due to the teacher walkout.
Garrison said it really just depends on how long the walkout lasts but several of the state’s top teams are expected to be on hand.
“The field will be quite strong,” Coach Garrison said, “depending on the teacher walkout. Lawton Mac, Lawton High and Bishop McGuinness, along with some of the top small schools in western Oklahoma will be here.”
Altus’ results were as follows:
Girls 400-meter relay — 6, Altus (Johnson, Hill, Jaycee Herring, Alicia Ayers), 52.17.
Boys 400-meter relay — 6, Altus (Moses McCaskill, Nehemiah McCaskill, Mysean Wells, Riley), 45.33.
Girls 3200-meter relay — 2, Altus (Pickett, Beth Garrison, Leyja, Borrego), 10:50.12.
Boys 3200-meter relay — 3, Altus (Jessie Benitez, Calvin Wagoner, Ryan Oden, Baker), 8:53.95.
Girls 100-meter hurdles — 3, Kelsee Baker, 17.83. 6, Alyssa Hargis, 18.32.
Girls 3200-meter run — 5, Olga Lopez, 13:56.92.
Boys 3200-meter run — 10, Adrian Aviles, 11:50.78.
Girls 800-meter relay — 3, Altus (Johnson, Hill, Beth Garrison, Herring), 1:51.57.
Boys 800-meter relay — 2, Altus (Nehemiah McCaskill, Moses McCaskill, Baker, Riley), 1:32.43.
Girls 800-meter run — 3, Pickett, 2:41,37. 4, Leyja, 2:44.54.
Boys 800-meter run — 6, Calvin Wagoner, 2:12.22.
Girls 400-meter dash — 2, Hill, 1:04.10.
Boys 400-meter dash — 1, James, 53.83. 2, Nehemiah McCaskill, 54.42.
Girls 300-meter hurdles — 1, Johnson, 48.59.
Boys 300-meter hurdles — 6, Davyjon Ford, 44.74.
Boys 200-meter dash — 2, Moses McCaskill, 23.04. 3, Riley, 23.06.
Girls 1600-meter run — 3, Beth Garrison, 5:55.75. 5, Lopez, 6:17.66.
Boys 1600-meter run — 9, Oden, 5:07.13.
Girls 1600-meter relay — 2, Altus (Hill, Johnson, Borrego, Leyja), 4:20.02.
Boys 1600-meter relay — 1, Altus (Moses McCaskill, James, Baker, Riley), 3:30.25.
Girls high jump — 6, Olivia James, 4’06”.
Boys high jump — 3, Ford, 5’10”.
Girls pole vault — 2, Martin, 8’00”.
Boys pole vault — 6, Jaden Revilla, 8’00”.
Girls long jump — 5, Kendra Harley, 15’06.50”.
Boys long jump — 8, Wells, 18’08.50”.
Boys discus throw — 8, Hunter Webb, 110’06”. 9, Cabe Dickerson, 103’04”.
Girls shot put — 3, Jozzlyn Christon, 33’10”.
Reach Ryan Lewis at 580-482-1221, ext. 2076.
