KFDM COOP Posted March 3, 2008 Report Posted March 3, 2008 Competitive YMBL tough on PA girls HIGH SCHOOL TRACK & FIELD By Tom Halliburton The Port Arthur News BEAUMONT — Call this 21st annual YMBL/BISD track meet successful in most every way unless you were seeking a top-notch Port Arthur story angle. As usual, this West Brook get-together contained its usual share of superior performances... just not from Port Arthur. Unless you want to devote paragraph after paragraph to the heart of this Memorial girls squad, the pickings turned rather slim. There were plenty of outstanding numbers to report. Such as 11 new area-best performances in the girls division, five new ones in the boys division. The beautiful 80-degree sunshine was hard to beat. When it came to hard to beat, try catching up with Friendswood Clear Brook’s overpowering sprinter Erica Alexander and an eye-popping FAT time of 24.59 in the girls 200-meter finals. Erica ran the anchor leg on a pair of victorious 4 X 1 and 4 X 2 relays, too. She simply overpowered the curve in the 200 and that rarely ever tends to happen in a high school girls 200-meter dash. If you missed a glimpse of Alexander, you had to witness the 2008 coming-out party for Beaumont Ozen junior A’Lexus Brannon. Three of the new area-bests belong to A’Lexus on this first March Sunday — the 100-meter hurdles in a blistering 14.34, a long jump of 19-1 for the defending 4A state long jump champion, and a triple jump of 38-8 1/4. Brannon’s high-point effort guided Ozen to 108 points in the 11-team girls division followed by Alexander’s Clear Brook team at 100 points. Memorial placed a middle of the pack fifth with 62 points. But the Lady Titans of coaches Sandra Bradford and Debra Arvie only sneaked into the winner’s circle once. That’s when senior Danielle Smith won the shot put in 35-6, slightly less than Danielle’s area-best of 35-11 1/4. “We’ve just had so many injuries,†Bradford said. “I’m surprised we’re doing as well as we are. These kids have a lot of heart... “We really had to make a lot of adjustments today. It was tough.†Memorial’s Terrell Robertson was bothered by soft tissue on the outside of her foot but was still able to place second in the long jump and 100-meter dash. Paris Collins also found what it was like to chase Brannon with a second-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles. The Lady Titans’ sick-and-injured list contained Kierra Roy (sore quadricep), J.J. Keller (knee), De’Ontra Kinlaw (sick), and Jasmine Eaglin (sick). Injuries depleted enough of Darrell Granger’s squad that Memorial’s boys opted to withdraw from the meet completely. Angleton outpointed Houston Nimitz 156-129 for the boys team title with a very good Beaumont Central team in third at 106.
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