DECATUR -- In their first appearance in the 1A Conference, the Decatur Bulldog boys' and girls' varsity track teams established their dominance in the sport with a win in the district track meet in Harrison April 25.
The Decatur boys claimed victory in 12 of 17 events in the meet. In all, the boys captured 12 gold, three silver and seven bronze medals during the event. The Bulldog boys ended the meet 53 points ahead of their nearest competitor, the Omaha Eagles.
For the freshmen, who only a week earlier also dominated the junior high meet in Harrison, this would be their first chance to compete in the high school ranks. Tafari James, Joseph Armstrong, Samuel Philpott, Javier Perez and Paige Barrett for the girls, placed well among older, more experienced athletes (see results below).
Once again, Desi Meek turned in another one of her outstanding performances, winning gold medals in five events, including both the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, 100- and 200-meter dashes and the triple jump. She finished the district meet as the girls' high point individual with 58 points.
Cameron Shaffer also turned in an excellent performance in both the discus and shot put, finishing first in both events. In the discus, Shaffer missed a personal best by less than six inches with a throw of 99-06.50.
In her first high school meet, Destiny Meija brought home two gold medals in the 400-meter dash and the high jump. She also received four silver medals in the pole vault and the girls' 4x100 meter relays, running with Paige Barrett, Paige Vann and Meagan Smith, who beat out Meija to take gold in the pole vault. She also finished second behind Meek in the triple jump and third in the long jump.
Next year promises to be another strong year for the girls, with two of the powerful athletes in the 1A conference. Together, Meek and Meija will be Decatur's leading athletes in the world of track.
The boys also proved too much for Omaha, and they took the district championship by more than 50 points.
When it was over, the Lady Bulldogs won the meet, with 153 points, over Omaha, with 133 points.
District 1A track meet results, girls:
100 Meter Hurdles-1 Desi Meek 17.44, 5 Paige Vann 22.51
100 Meter Dash-1 Meek 14.18, 9 Meagan Smith 16.16
200 Meter Dash-1 Meek 28.46
300 Meter Hurdles-1 Meek 49.96
400 Meter Dash-1 Destiny Meija 1:10.87, 6 Paige Vann 1:18.31
4x100 Meter Relay-2 Decatur Paige Barrett, Smith, Vann, Meija 59.99
Discus-1 Cameron Shaffer 99-06.50, 7 Barrett 60-11.75
Shot Put-1 Shaffer 32-04.00, 10 Barrett 20-10.50
Pole Vault-1 Smith 7-00.00, 2 Meija 7-00.00
High Jump-1 Meija 4-11.00
Long Jump-2 Meek 14-09.00, 3 Meija 14-06.75, 4 Vann 12-03.00
Triple Jump-1 Meek 30-09.00, 2 Meija 30-08.50, 3 Smith 28-05.25
Girls team results: 1 Decatur 153, 2 Omaha 133, 3 Kingston 106
District 1A track meet results, boys:
100 Meter Dash-3 Johnny Brandon 12.38, 6 Joseph Armstrong 12.65, 10 Brandon Coker 13.54
110 Meter Hurdles-1 Ryan Shaffer 17.63, 2 Tafari James 19.45, 3 Caydan Bingham 20.39
1600 Meter Run-1 Leng Lee 5:17.02, 3 Samual Philpott 5:29.34
200 Meter Dash-1 Armstrong 25.51, 8 Jimmy Mendoza 26.49
300 Meter Hurdles-1 Shaffer 45.47, 2 James 47.57, 3 Bingham 49.19
400 Meter Dash-1 Brandon 54.86
4x100 Meter Relays-1 Decatur-Brandon, Armstrong, Mendoza, Taylor Haisman 46.72.
4x400 Meter Relays-1 Decatur-Shaffer, Brandon, Mendoza, Haisman 3:47.31.
4x800 Meter Relays-1 Decatur-Shaffer, L. Lee, Haisman 9:22.97.
800 Meter Run-1 Haisman 2:11.40, 4 L. Lee 2:35.58
Discus-3 Brandon Coker 100-06.00, 4 Shaffer 99-06.25, 5 Sabastian Perez 98-08.00, 11 Javier Perez 70-11.00
Shot Put-2 Coker 38-08.00, 10 Alex Lee 29-09.50, 13 S. Perez 28-06.00, 15 J. Perez 27-11.50
Pole Vault-1 Bracy Owens 13-04.00, 3 Haisman 9-06.00
High Jump-1 Mendoza 5-09.00, 4 James 5-06.00, 5 Armstrong 5-04.00, 8 Owens 5-02.00
Long Jump-3 Armstrong 18-00.25, 4 Mendoza 17-10.75, 8 Haisman 17-01.25
Triple Jump-1 Mendoza 38-02.50, 5 James 34-01.75, 7 L.Lee 33-08.00
Team totals: 1 Decatur 226, Omaha 173, 3 Kingston 66.
Sports on 05/03/2017