by Hunter Dawkins, Publisher/Owner – editor@thegazebogazette.com or hdawkins@supertalk.fm

PEARL (GG) — Despite not having enough competitors to finish high in the team overall points (Boys T6 – 36 points, Girls 9 – 33), the West Harrison Hurricanes Track & Field earned seven medals and a state record in MHSAA 6A competition Saturday, May 3 at the Woody Barnett Complex.  Of the 7 medals won at Pearl High School, the Boys earned two 1st place Gold with Senior Samuel Harris tossing a shot put 45-2.5 feet and Junior Sean Fairley throwing a discus 181 feet, which gave both victories.

Fairley’s distance surpassed the next competitor, West Harrison Senior Joshua Lane, by 33 feet and set the new state record for MHSAA 6A competition in the Boys Discus.  Lane won the silver medal in the same competition with 148-3 toss.

‘Canes Junior Sydney Barber won the Girls Gold Medal, throwing the Discus 117-3 and beating the next challenger by 6 feet.  The Lady Hurricanes earned Bronze (3rd) medals for the last three medals with McKinley Humbles tossing a shot put 33-6, Eighth Grader Diana Carr completing a race time of 13:13.92 in the 3200 meter run, and Desiree Lacy finishing with a 7’6 jump in the pole vault.

West Harrison had other athletes place as Jewelz Galloway jumped 7’6 in the pole vault for 4th, Josh Lane tossed a shot put 44-1 for 4th, Omar Bullard jumped 9’6 for 8th, and the 4×800 relay team finished with a time of 9:03.97 to finish seventh.

The Long Beach Bearcats Track & Field team earned three medals in the 6A competition, with Senior Andre Windham leading the way.  Windham earned a Silver (2nd) Medal after jumping 6′ in the high jump, followed by Freshman Maximus Cropper leaping 12’ for a Bronze in the Pole Vault.  The Bearcats 4×100 relay team nearly won the race, finishing with a 42.9 time to fall behind Terry High School time of 42.74.

Windham had a 42-8.5 leap in the triple jump to finish 7th and Senior Evan Barrone ran for a time off 22.90 with a 6th place in the 200 meter for the boys.  The Bearcats final results in points were 27 for 11th place in the boys competition and 8 in the girls to 21st place.  Tori Washington tossed the shot put 32-5 to finish 4th as the only girls competitor.

Terry High School won the MHSAA 6A Boys Track and Field State Championship while Hattiesburg earned the Girls Title.

(Photos submitted by West Harrison High School)