The 4A state track meet will be held at Pearl High School on April 30, but Kosciusko got a sneak peek at the venue by participating at the Woody Barnett Invitational against mostly 6A and 5A teams, including some of the state's strongest programs.
The boys finished 17th with 7.5 points and the girls were 14th with 15 points. The host team won both meets.
Both Kosciusko coaches, Derrick Huffman for the boys and Eleazarus Greenleaf for the girls, feel the experience will be beneficial as they prepare for the district meet this week.
“It gave them the motivation to work hard and continue to get better,” Huffman said. “In the long run, that will help us tremendously.”
“Pearl has good competition from top to bottom,” Greenleaf said.
Kosciusko's top performer was sophomore Raven Pernell, second in the girls’ long jump with a personal best of 17 feet, 6 inches. The event was won by Mylani Galbreath of Northwest Rankin at 18-6.25.
Presley Fulgham, the defending 4A girls state pole vault champion, cleared 8-6 to finished third. Brianna Smith was eighth in the girls’ discus with a throw of 82-2.
The top boy was Vinterrious Hunt, fifth in the 100 with a time of 11.03. That was only four one-hundredth of a second off the winning time of 10.99 by Jalen Nelson of Northwest Rankin.
Jarrell Erving was sixth in the discus (118-2).
Several of the competitors turned in personal bests, including Jaquavous Pace in the boys 200 with a time of 24.93. “I was extremely proud of that,” Huffman said.
Kosciusko was scheduled to participate in the Division 4-4A meet Tuesday at Winona High School. With rain in the forecast, the meet might be postponed until Friday.
The top four in each event will qualify for the region meet April 15, also at Winona. The 4A North State meet will be April 21 at Pontotoc High School.
