Staff report

Memorial High School’s 4×200-meter relay team was chosen as one of five finalists for the Press Club of Southeast Texas’ Newsmaker of the Year honor, which will be presented June 8 at the club’s Excellence in the Media banquet in Beaumont.

The team of Xavier Hull, Ireon Brown, De’Andre Angelle and Kary Vincent Jr. completed two laps around the University of Texas’ Mike A. Myers Stadium track in a national-record time of 1 minute, 23.52 seconds, beating a record set in 2007 by 0.4 second, during the University Interscholastic League 5A state meet on May 12. The same four runners combined to set a state meet record of 39.80 seconds in the 4×100-meter relay, narrowly missing the national record by .04 second that was set in 1998.

Hull is currently a senior and Brown a sophomore at Memorial. Angelle now plays football at Texas Southern University and Vincent plays football and runs track at LSU.

Michael Odoms, now a junior, was the 4×200 alternate at state but helped Memorial qualify for state in the 5A Region III meet in Huntsville.

Memorial, coached by Darrell Granger, finished second in team standings to Manvel.

Former Thomas Jefferson High School quarterback Damon West, now a legal assistant in Beaumont, is also a finalist for giving many inspiring talks on drug abuse and resisting crime to local and national groups as a recovering addict and former prison inmate.

Other finalists include: Beaumont pastors John Adolph and Randy Feldschau for sponsoring a gun buyback and anti-crime effort in the city; Beaumont Mayor Becky Ames, City Manager Kyle Hayes, Public Works Director Joe Majadalani and the Crenshaw family/Tiger Industrial Co. for their heroic work to restore Beaumont’s fresh-water pumps after Tropical Storm Harvey’s waters flooded them and delayed the city’s recovery; and Newton High football coach W.T. Johnson, who led the Eagles to a state championship in December despite suffering a life-threatening graft-vs.-host disease after receiving a double-lung transplant three years earlier.

The winner will be announced at the banquet at the MCM Elegante’ hotel. The banquet is the major fundraiser for the Press Club Memorial Scholarship, awarded annually to a communication student at Lamar University.

Reservations are $35 per person and may be purchased online at: pressclubofsoutheasttexas.org/events. For further details: Brian Sattler, brian.sattler@lamar.edu.