Sikeston kicks off track season

Sikeston's Dominique McCray hands off to Tommie Strong (far left) while Eli Jackson (center) prepares to get a handoff from Darryl Howard (far right) in the 4x100 relay Thursday afternoon at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium. (David Jenkins/Standard Democrat)

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Bulldogs boys and girls track and field teams got their official season underway Thursday afternoon when they hosted the Cape Central Tigers at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium.

In their first dual meet of the season, points were set aside since weather has limited practice time for both squads. But competition was still intense as both Sikeston and Cape Central were eager to begin the 2008 season.

Sikeston's Gaviland Bland wins the high hurdle event Thursday at Sikeston Public Schools Stadium. Finishing second was Tanner Bryant, background. (David Jenkins/Standard Democrat) [Click to enlarge]

And while the meet may go down in the books as more of an exhibition, Sikeston head coach Jerry Dement was pleased overall with his teams first outing and is glad they got to compete.

"Our first meet of the year was basically a practice meet between us and Cape because we've been so limited in training due to weather," said Dement. "But we are pleased that we got to compete and we also had some really good performances for our first time out."

On the girls side, the Lady Bulldogs had several good outings despite missing some veteran leadership.

"Several of our experienced ladies were banged up and didn't get to compete today," said Dement. "But we got a chance to put some young kids in their places and they really ran some nice performances, particularly in the sprints and speed relays."

In turn, that gave us a good chance to look at our depth and we really found some young ladies that can run.

Dement also stated that he was pleased with his girl throwers in the shot and discus as well as his horizontal jumpers.

On the boys side, the Bulldogs were pretty solid in relay and hurdle events but lacked experience in the long distance category.

"I was pretty pleased with our relay and hurdlers today," Dement said. "As for our distance running, we're very young but we had good effort.

"We were strong in the areas that we thought we'd be in and we have room for improvement in the areas that we thought we might struggle in."

One of those strong areas for Sikeston was found in the jumping categories.

Dominic Fondon recorded 44-8 in the triple jump while Demetrious Jackson leaped for 43-10. Cal Lane and Eli Jackson both jumped over 20 inches in the long jump with Lane reaching 21-10 and Jackson reaching 20-10.

"I was really pleased with our jumpers but we knew we'd be strong there," said Dement. "Overall, we had a pretty strong day for our opening day. I was pleased with both sides.

We have some improving to do, just like any other team but right now we're just glad that we got the chance to get out there and compete."

Sikeston will be back action on April 1 when they host the Poplar Bluff Mules at 4 p.m.