With 40-plus years of track experience, Charlie Floyd knows talent when he sees it — or at least he’d like to think he does.
If he’s right on his current prediction, the South Pike girls track and field team could be in for numerous state championships during the next half decade.
South Pike’s 1,600-meter relay team, which consists of seventh- and eighth-graders, will compete for a state title in Monday’s Class 4A state track meet at Pearl High School.
“I’m a 40-year veteran and Hall of Fame coach. … I’ve been around track a long time, and this is one of the better little groups of seventh- and eighth-graders I’ve been around,” said Floyd, who is a track consultant for South Pike. “If they stay together, they have a chance to win four or five state championships — if they stay focused.”
The four-some — Beyonce Coney, Shayla Felder, Moriah Hurst and Alexandreail Jackson — are undefeated this season and posted the top time last weekend at the 4A South State tournament in Tylertown with a 4:22.77.
Floyd might be onto something with the young group. He scrapped the track program at Amite County and helped build it up with a similar group of girls.
Janice Felder, who has coached the South Pike girls team for six years, is a believer, too.
“They work hard. It’s unusual for seventh- and eighth-graders to be undefeated like that,” said Felder, who also coaches the Lady Eagles in basketball. “It’s an exceptional bunch of kids.”
Felder and Coney will also team up with Tyceona Campbell and MyNeka Frazier in both the 400- and 800-meter relay. They ran a speedy 50.58 at South State to win first in the 400 and finished fourth in the 800.
The three relay teams, along with senior Jamaya Carter in the field events, helped South Pike finish as the runner-up to Poplarville last weekend. Carter took home first place in the discus with a throw of 89-9½ and was a second-place finisher in the shot put. She’ll have a tough time competing with the North State champion from Corinth, Jaynesia Johnson, who blew away the field with a 115-3 in the discus.
On the boys’ side, South Pike will send a handful of competitors to the state tournament.
Freshman Jaxavian Holmes finished in fourth place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.43 to qualify for Monday’s race.
The 1,600-meter relay team of Aubrey Bullock, Derrick Reid, Destin McGhee and Esham Malone qualified with a third-place finish.
South Pike isn’t known for its success in the mile relay, but coach Jerry Jones thinks the Eagles have a legitimate shot at a medal.
“We’re usually known for sprinting and jumping,” Jones said. “They think they can win this thing. I think they can place and get on the podium if they run hard.”
Other notable performers from the area in Monday’s field are North Pike’s Tommy Beasley, Ethan Frith and Alayshia Martin.
Beasley qualified in both the long jump and triple jump, while Frith, who is one of the state’s top offensive linemen prospects, and Martin qualified in the boys and girls shot put, respectively.
Tylertown strong again
After wrapping up a dominating performance last weekend at the 4A South State meet, the Tylertown boys track and field team are the favorites to win their second straight state championship Monday.
The Chiefs racked up 159 points and blew away St. Stanislaus, the second-place finisher, by 89 points and has 17 individual qualifiers.
Senior Chris Jones, who was a running back for Tylertown’s football team, qualified in the 200-meter dash, long jump and the triple jump. Jones recorded a 22-3½ for the long jump title last weekend.
Junior Craig Carson, who is expected to take over for Jones as the starting running back next season, captured titles in both the 100- and 200-meter dash. He was the only one in the South to break 11 seconds with a time of 10.99 in the 100 and edged Port Gibson’s Tommy McCalpin in the 200 with a time of 22.35.
Tylertown’s 400-, 800- and 1,600-meter relay teams all qualified winning in all three at South State.
The Lady Chiefs finished third in South State and are expected to compete with Poplarville and South Pike to place with the South. Tylertown finished with 72 points last weekend.
In 2A action, the Amite County girls track and field team hope to have their 2A South State title carry over into a state title Monday.
Amite County had individuals qualify in 12 events. The Lady Trojans won the South State title with 117 points, just three more than Pisgah.
