JESUIT-SHEANER RELAYS DeSoto girls show dominance Teams wins all three relays, open sprints, both hurdles events
By GREG RIDDLE
Staff Writer
Two years ago, the DeSoto girls track and field team produced perhaps the most dominant performance the state has ever seen, winning the Class 6A team state championship by a whopping 73 points. That was the last time there was a UIL state meet, because last year’s event was canceled because of the pandemic.
Fast forward to Saturday, and nothing has changed. DeSoto looks like the front-runner to win a ninth team state championship after beating runner-up Allen by 45.33 points at the Jesuit-Sheaner Relays, which had one of the strongest fields possible given the strict meet restrictions that are in place because of COVID-19.
UIL guidelines are restricting the size of invitational meets to eight schools, plus two additional schools that have six or fewer participants. The Jesuit-Sheaner Relays would normally have close to 100 teams represented in some form (full team or individual entrants), but this year’s reduced field still included a DeSoto girls team that has won four straight team state titles, the 12-time team state champion Lancaster girls and three relay teams (Duncanville boys 4x100, DeSoto girls 4x100 and DeSoto girls 4x400) that entered the meet ranked among the top five in the nation.
DeSoto’s girls won all three relays, both hurdles races and all three open sprint events (100, 200 and 400). The 4x200 relay team of Chloe Shaw, Illinois signee Mia Abraham, Trinity Kirk and Illinois signee Logan Neely ran the fastest time in the nation this season — 1:37.49 — and USC signee Jalaysi’ya Smith produced the fastest wind-legal time in the country in the 100-meter hurdles by running 13.82.
“I feel like we ran really good. Everything is coming together,” said Neely, who teamed with Amelliah Birdow, Lacie Deboskie and Caitlin Shaw to win the 4x400 relay in 3:49.64 — which would be a top-five national time if DeSoto hadn’t already run 3:47.50 this year. “I think we still have the same talent [as 2019]. All of us were there then, we were just younger.”
Smith, Ja’Era Griffin, Kirk and Abraham won the 4x100 relay in 46.30, a time that ranks No. 2 in the nation behind San Antonio Reagan’s 45.53, according to MileSplit.com.
With Melissa star injured, his teammate races to victory: Texas A&M signee Lucas Tauch of Melissa won the boys 1,600 meters in 4:28.44, a race that did not include his teammate, North Carolina signee Judson Greer. Greer won 4A state titles in the 1,600 and 3,200 in 2019, won his third consecutive state championship in cross country in the fall, and this track season ranks No. 2 in the nation in the 3,200 (8:49.29) and fifth in the 1,600 (4:10.06).
Cedar Hill sprint standout stays busy: Senior Diallo Good didn’t get much rest, running on Cedar Hill’s 4x100 relay that won in 41.14, then competing in back-to-back races — the 100 and the 4x200 relay. He nearly won gold in everything.
He teamed with Kaleb Green, Robert Richardson and Dacorey Ware to win the 4x200 relay in 1:25.92, the sixth-fastest time in the country. He finished second in the 100 in 10.59, getting beat in the final few meters by DeSoto’s Jaelyn Davis-Robinson, who won in 10.50.
Cedar Hill’s 4x100 team of Brian Rainey, Good, Green and Ware ran the fifth-best time nationally and beat Duncanville, which came into the meet with the third-best time (40.96) in the country. Elijah Keeton and Donte Hamilton were the only two runners from its normal 4x100 team that competed Saturday, but Duncanville still finished second in 41.31.
Duncanville took second behind Lancaster in the final event of the meet, the 4x400 relay, and that gave Duncanville the boys team title by two points over DeSoto.
Lake Ridge still a jumps school: Mansfield Lake Ridge’s Jasmine Moore broke the state record, as well as the national record for high school-only competitions, in the triple jump in 2019 by winning the Class 6A state title as a senior with a leap of 44 feet, 10 inches. Moore won four consecutive state championships in the triple jump and long jump before moving on to NCAA powerhouse Georgia, where she placed in the top eight in both events at this season’s national indoor meet.
Lake Ridge still has talented jumpers, and sophomore Tyra Coleman won the girls triple jump Saturday with a mark of 37-3.75. “She PRed today. She has gotten better each meet,” Lake Ridge triple jump and long jump coach James Whisenhunt said. “Her biggest deal is finding time.”
Twitter: @DMNGregRiddle