COMMERCE — Four Pierce County High School track members, two Lady Bears and two Bears, and the girls’ 4x400-meter relay team clinched berths Saturday to the Class 2A track finals here at East Jackson High School in the Sectional track meet.
The May 2 qualifier had 24 schools participating, representing Regions 2, 3, 4 and 8.
The Top 8 finishers in each event will compete Thursday, May 14 in the GHSA Track & Field State Championships at Spec Towns Track at the University of Georgia Track & Field Complex in Athens.
Representing the Lady Bears at the state meet will be Sara Minott (shot put), Zanyria Monroe (300meter hurdles) and the relay team consisting of Aubree Wilkins, Jose’ziah James, Patience Smith, Monroe, Olivia Bennett, Kristin Clark, Miyon Brown and Zoe O’Berry.
The Bears’ Omar Jinks qualified in two evens (100m, 200m). He will be joined by Amir McKenzie (high jump).
Minott captured the last state qualifying mark in the shot put with a heave of 31’6”. She finished ninth in the discus with a distance of 81’1” just short of the eighthplace qualifying distance of 84’4”.
Monroe qualified for state, placing eighth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 52.31 seconds. The 4x400m relay team sealed its berth in the finals finishing eighth with a time of 4:41.02.
Jinks ran to a thirdplace finish in both the 100m with a time of 11.01 seconds and the 200m with a time of 22.18 seconds. McKenzie placed seventh in the high jump to qualify for the state finals with a height of 5’10”.
The Lady Bears’ 4x100m relay team just missed qualifying, finishing ninth with a time of 52.22 seconds. The 8thplace time was 44.34 seconds The Lady Bears’ 4x400m relay team posted a 13th-place time of 12:32.59, trailing the 8th-place time of 11:39.87. The 4x200m relay team also finished 13th with a time of 1:55.53 with the final qualifying time at 1:52.37.
Brandon Yepes recorded a 10th-place showing in the 1,600m with a time of 4:59.10, setting the school mark. The final qualifying time was 4:51.63.
Leland Williams placed 13th in the discus with a distance of 109’7” with the eighth-place qualifier at 133’8”. Jaylen Clark finished 13th in the triple jump with a distance of 38’10” with the last qualifying mark set at 41’9.25”.
Dominque Hightower was 14th in the 100m hurdles with a time of 19.03 seconds with the final qualifying spot at 18.05 seconds.
