Laquisha Boyd (Right) Scottie Mayes (Right) enjoy a ride of coach Wallace’s boat.
“I’m not big on awards,” said head coach Jim Wallace. “Track is about being a team, not individual accomplishment”.
Coach Wallace, though proud of what the team accomplished and the effort they gave, did not think they lived up to their potential.
“I never thought that everyone really bought into the team concept,” said Wallace with a look of concern, “by region time last year I believe the whole team, both boys and girls, were on board, but not this year”.
The Wildcat’s season saw several different problems. Cold weather and meets being rained out definitely hurt the team. Some kids did not always have their grades in school where they needed to be, some kids had some minor injuries, and others, thought Wallace, just never really figured out how to maximize their abilities to fully benefit the team.
Though the team did not get the scores, or finish as well as in years past, they did better than they looked on paper. Both the girls and boys finished third in the region, but that is saying a lot due to the fact that they ran in the best region in the state. That region dominated state like never before.
“It is tough when four, five, or even six runners from our region score points in a single race,” said Wallace, talking about the state track meet.
“We had so many seniors last year, and only two this year on both sides,” said assistant coach Jan Woodall, “people were not used to having to filling in those shoes and stepping up”.
The Wildcats were faced with the toughest year they have had in a long time. With only two seniors on the boys side as well as the girls side and running against the best competition they have come across in years, it would have been easy for the team be to be complacent and not give the best effort they could. They were far from complacent though. Most of the times they got at state were the best they had gotten all year. That is what you look for in a team, giving all they have and maxing out when it counts.
The boys’ team finished with 7 points and placed 23rd out of 37 at the state meet. The girls scored 17 points and placed 13th out of 35. There were some questionable calls and bad judging, though, for the cats.
Almost every team complained about the shot put judge, who seemed to not even be paying attention during the throws, which hurt our regional champion Laquisha Boyd and thus, hurting the girls’ team. Others were pulled off the track immediately following a race to go to their field events without even a minute of rest. The teams held through the adversity, though, and still managed to score points for the team.
Wildcat runners receiving awards during the banquet were Dhana Cavanagh (Senior Award (Not Pictured)), Robert Sholar (Senior Award and Most Improved), Jay Jolly (110% Award), Scottie Mayes (MVP Runner and MVP Jumper), Amanda Want (Most Improved), Laquisha Boyd (Senior Award), Sara Woodall (Senior Award), Amanda Lawrence (110% Award), Abigail Torian (MVP Runner), Janada Acree (MVP Jumper), Stephanie Thorpe (Coaches Award).
