5A REGION III TRACK: Freshmen Ross, Butler earn places

Published 9:21 pm Friday, April 26, 2019

Memorial freshman Kristopher Ross placed sixth in the 5A Region III shot put during the first day of the meet Friday at Clear Creek ISD’s Challenger Columbia Stadium in Webster.

Ross was the only Jefferson County athlete to place in an event Friday with a 52-foot, 9.5-inch throw. Kevin Adams of Cedar Park won the event at 55-5, with Tre’Vonte Caines of Memorial coming in 11th.

PNG freshman Sanaria Butler ran a personal best of 58.45 in the 400 meters, but she did not make the top eight after Friday’s heats to qualify for today’s final. She was seventh in the triple jump at 35-9.5, more than 3 feet behind winner Tumi Onaleye of Katy Paetow.

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The top two in each event will qualify for May’s state meet, along with the top third-place finisher out of all the UIL regions in each event.

Friday was qualifying day in all running events except the 3,200 meters. Local finalists for boys (all from Memorial) include: Michael Odoms in the 200, Harold Mosley in the 110-meter hurdles, Jessie Cornell and Alex Ned in the 300, the 4×100-meter team of Tyrence Augusta, Troy Dixon, Odoms and Allen Santos-Williams, the 4×200 unit of Augusta, Jatavian Neal, Odoms and Santos-Williams, and the 4×400-meter team of Neal, Jaylon Guilbeau, Lamont Freeman Jr. and Santos-Williams.

Saturday’s field events include the 5A girls pole vault, shot put and long jump, and the 5A boys long jump and discus throw (all at 8:30 a.m.); the 5A boys and girls high jump (at 11:30 a.m.) and the 5A and 6A running finals (starting at 3 p.m. and finishing by 5:30 p.m.). Landin Jackson of Memorial will compete in the boys long jump.

Port Neches-Groves senior Jacie Droddy, who will compete in the girls long jump Saturday, made the finals of both the 100 and 200 meters. Droddy finished second in the region long jump last year.

Memorial has two competitors in the girls shot put, Maya Flax and Iyanna Brannon.

**CORRECTS Ross’ placing and Mosley’s event**

About I.C. Murrell

I.C. Murrell was promoted to editor of The News, effective Oct. 14, 2019. He previously served as sports editor since August 2015 and has won or shared eight first-place awards from state newspaper associations and corporations. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, grew up mostly in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

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