.jpg)
‘Good Rust Buster’ For Blues PM Has Strong Showing At First Outdoor Meet
The Parry McCluer High School track and field teams had a strong first meet of the outdoor season, with several personal records and six individuals qualifying by time or distance for the Class 1 state meet at the Terrier Team Challenge on Saturday at William Byrd High School in Vinton.
Just over a month after placing sixth at the Class 1 and 2 combined state indoor track and field meet, the PM boys had four runners and one thrower qualify for the outdoor state meet.
PM head coach Chris Poluikis was pleased with his runners despite competing in cold and windy conditions. “It was a good rust buster,” said Poluikis. “I thought everybody ran very solid. Whenever they went to the back stretch, it was straining. Nobody from any team ran fast times.”
Leading the PM boys was freshman Kebryl Chandler, who won the 800-meter run in a personal-record (PR) and state-qualifying time of 2:01.62. His older brother Kovyk, a senior who won indoor state titles in the 1600 and 3200-meter runs in late February, placed second in 2:02.77, a PR and statequalifying time. Following in third was Floyd County’s Quinlan Beagle in 2:02.94.
Also qualifying for the state meet and running a PR in the 800-meter run was PM sophomore Josh Cooper, placing sixth in 2:04.76. Sophomore teammate Logan Wheelock was just shy of a state-qualifying time, finishing in a PR time of 2:12.22.
The Chandler brothers teamed up with Cooper and Wheelock to place eighth of 13 teams in the 4 X 400meter relay in 3:50.55.
In the 1600-meter run, Kovyk Chandler led the Blues, placing second in a state-qualifying time of 4:29.35, trailing only Pulaski County’s Cole Boone, who won in 4:18.97. Kebryl Chandler followed in third in a state-qualifying time of 4:31.32, and Floyd County’s Mason Erchull finished fourth in 4:34.48.
Cooper and Wheelock both qualified by time for the state meet in the 1600-meter run, with Cooper placing 11th in 4:42.2 and Wheelock finishing 17th in a PR time of 4:47.01.
Freshman Sam Carpenter represented the PM boys in the 3200-meter run, placing 17th in a PR time of 11:35.98.
Sprinting for the Blues was senior Evan Cook, who placed 15th in the 400-meter dash in 57.29 seconds and finished 42nd in the 100meter dash in 12.15. Cook also competed in the long jump, placing 16th with a leap of 18 feet, 9 inches.
The PM girls had two runners competing. Sophomore Kyra Lee placed 15th in the 1600-meter run in 6:11.56 and finished 31st in the 800meter run in 3:00.15. Senior Jasmine De Souza finished 20th in the 1600-meter run in 6:18.97 and came in 26th in the 800-meter run in 2:54.29 Leading the PM boys’ throwers was sophomore Griffin Harlow, placing fourth in the shot put with a state-qualifying toss of 4510, half an inch shy of his seventh-place throw in the indoor state meet in February, and finishing 10th in the discus with a PR heave of 120-3, just two feet shy of qualifying for the state meet. Also stepping up was junior Rayshan Richardson, placing seventh in the shot put with a toss of 44-1 and coming in 13th in the discus with a throw of 117-8, both PRs. Sophomore teammate Vincent Wilson finished 25th in the shot put with a toss of 35-6 and came in 26th in the discus with a throw of 96-6.
For the PM girls, junior Kamilah Richardson qualified for the state meet in the shot put, placing fifth with a PR toss of 33-2.5, and finished 22nd in the discus with a heave of 63-1. Junior Keeli Wheeler placed 16th in the discus with a throw of 67-10 and finished 29th in the shot put with a toss of 22-4.5. Also competing for the PM girls was junior Presley Austin, finishing 34th in the shot put (20-9) and 35th in the discus (53-1).
Team scores were not kept at the meet.
Reviewing the meet, PM throwing coach Danny Cole said, “We made some progress.”
“My goal is to get four qualified events prior to the state meet (we got two yesterday) and a couple qualified through the regional meet,” added Cole. “Our region is tough when it comes to throwing. It’s possible to have mid-40 throwers not even make the state meet and actually be a top 15 thrower in the state, if they don’t hit the 44-6.5 [boys’] qualifying mark. We’ve got to continue to hit the weight room hard because that’s where some of our deficit is. Getting stronger takes a lot longer to see results in a throw than fixing an incorrect foot placement. etc. Our fundamentals are looking good, but our brute strength needs improvement in a few of our throwers.
Cole added that he is “excited” for his young throwing quad, which has no seniors.
Also showing promise for the Blues last week was eighth-grader Timber Thomas, who won the boys’ shot put at a Riverheads junior varsity meet last Wednesday and won a middle school meet at Liberty Christian Academy last Friday with a throw of 42-6.
Returning to serve as an assistant coach for the Blues is Robert Williams.
In last year’s outdoor state meet, the PM boys sent three individuals and placed 13th, while the girls sent three individuals and finished 29th.
The PM throwers will travel to Lynchburg on Friday for the Bulldog Under the Lights meet at Liberty Christian Academy. On Saturday, the PM runners will race in the Blacksburg Invitational at Blacksburg High School.
