Junior Shakila Grant Breaks Paris School Record in the 100 Meter Dash

Zachary Morris Does Something That Hasn't Been Done At The School In Nearly Two Decades ... Win A Throwing Event

   The Paris Greyhounds and Ladyhounds track teams took to the running surface last week at the Scott County High School All-Comers Meet and just like they've done in most of their meets this season, the squad didn't disappoint.

   "We just continue to keep getting faster and faster," said Coach Brian Washington. "I'm really impressed on how the girls are coming along and our boys' team should be ready come region time."

   One of the most impressive performances during the meet was the Paris girls' 100 meter dash sprinters. Junior Shakila Grant placed third with a school record time of 12.91 seconds, and in doing so, she became the first Ladyhound in school history to run below 13 seconds in that event. Grant's time was better than Erica Williams who ran a 13.08 back in 1991. Seventh grader Asia Sims was right behind Grant with a great time of 13.0 seconds that was good enough for fifth place. Marchae Williams, a junior, placed ninth overall in a nice time of 13.25 seconds.

   "Shakila and Asia both ran great races but the good thing about it, they can go faster," Washington said. "The conditions weren't all that great either." Sims went on to place fourth in the 200 meter dash in a personal best time of 27.54 seconds.

   On the boys side of the meet, Zachary Morris became the first Paris track male to win the discus event in a meet since the days of the Chumbley brothers Brent and Eric back in the mid 80's. Morris' winning toss was 110 feet and 10 inches.

   "It was nice to see Zach win the event," commented Washington. "It's been a while since we've won a throwing event and knowing how hard Zach works, it was great to see it pay off for him."

   The Ladyhounds continued their great runs in the 4x100 and 4x200 relays by placing second in both events. The girls ran a time of 1:54.22 seconds in the 4x200 and a 53.51 in the 4x100. The boys team placed fifth in the 4x200 (1:40.76) and seventh in the 4x100 (52.1).

   "Our girls' team is right where they need to be in both relay events while our boys' team will need a little more work," Washington said. "I still feel that our boys' team will be fine come region time and our girls' team will only get faster. We are still mixing things up and once we find the fastest performers, we will stick with that and start improving our times."

   Also scoring for the boys team during the meet were seniors Trent Rankin and Malcolm Warfield. Rankin placed third in the 400 meter dash in a time of 55.56 seconds, while Warfield managed to score points for his team in the 100 meter dash (11.60) and high jump (5-2). He placed eighth in the 100 and sixth in the high jump.

   The Paris track team was scheduled to compete in the All "A" Classic on Saturday in Danville but because of the seriousness of the weather, the team didn't make the trip. The Paris coach was looking forward to the meet because he really wanted to see how his team stacked up with Danville.

   "It was going to be a great meet for us with some of the better teams in the Class A attending the meet. It would've been nice to run Danville because I feel like we are right there with them but we had to think about the safety of our kids, so we decided not to attend the meet."