The Rayville Junior High girls turned in a dominant performance on their home track March 3, capturing the team championship at the Rayville Junior High Relays, while Mangham Junior High’s boys delivered several strong finishes to place third overall in the boys standings.
Rayville’s girls scored 94 points to win the meet, finishing well ahead of Quitman (68) and Union Parish (66). Mangham’s girls also had a strong showing, placing fourth with 62 points.
The Rayville girls were fueled by several standout individual performances and relay victories.
Zyrhia Robinson led the way with a first-place finish in the high jump, clearing 4-8. Robinson also won the 400-meter dash in 1:09.07 and added a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 29.30.
Haliey Parker also brought home a win for Rayville, taking first place in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.54. Parker earlier finished fourth in the 100meter hurdles in 21.69.
Rayville’s relay teams played a key role in the team championship. The Lady Hornets won the 4x200-meter relay in 1:58.71 and later added another victory in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 5:08.25.
Several other Rayville athletes scored strong finishes. McKenzie Potts placed third in the 100meter dash with a time of 14.28 and finished second in the 200-meter dash in 29.12. Louisiana Green finished sixth in the 100meter dash and later placed third in the 400meter dash in 1:16.39.
Rayville also picked up points in the distance events as Irianna Kelly finished third in the 800meter run in 3:30.61 and added a fifth-place finish in the discus with a throw of 45-7. Jamaia Jenkins placed fourth in the 800 meters with a time of 3:32.57.
Mangham’s girls also turned in several strong performances.
Amelia Brunson finished second in both the 1,600-meter run (7:09.07) and the 800-meter run (3:19.44) while also placing third in the javelin with a throw of 57-0.
The Lady Dragons’ relay teams also scored key points. Mangham finished third in the 4x200-meter relay (2:04.32) and third in the 4x100-meter relay (58.78).
In field events, Clemons Xyla placed second in the high jump by clearing 4-6, while Lorena Castillo finished fourth in both the high jump and long jump. Kennedy Dora added fourth-place finishes in the shot put and discus.
On the boys side, Mangham Junior High turned in a strong team effort to finish third overall with 75 points.
The Dragons were led by their relay teams, highlighted by a first-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay. The Mangham team of Aiden Marsh, Austin Thomas, Malik Paige and Trenton Gix won the event in 3:50.90.
Mangham also placed second in the 4x200meter relay with Paige, Thomas, Tristan Jenkins and Gix finishing in 1:39.68. The Dragons added another strong relay performance in the 4x100-meter relay where Jenkins, Gix, Paige and Thomas placed fourth with a time of 48.23.
Several Mangham athletes also scored points in individual events.
Elijah Kennedy finished fourth in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:52.02 and later placed fifth in the 800meter run in 2:34.67.
Charles Williams placed third in the 400meter dash with a time of 59.64 while teammate Aiden Marsh finished fourth in the same event in 1:01.33.
In hurdling events, Amarie Joseph placed third in the 100-meter hurdles in 17.66 and finished fifth in the 300meter hurdles with a time of 53.43. Joseph also tied for sixth in the high jump by clearing 4-6.
Mangham also had strong results in the field events. Michael Arroyo turned in one of the Dragons’ top performances of the day, winning the javelin with a throw of 125-3 while also placing second in the discus (103-6) and second in the shot put (36-5).
Chris Kennedy placed sixth in the long jump for Mangham with a leap of 15-5.
Rayville’s boys also recorded several solid individual performances.
Ari Hill finished sixth in the 100-meter dash in 12.74 and later placed fifth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.23. Zalen Leggins finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in 18.53.
Rayville also picked up points in the relay events, finishing sixth in the 4x200-meter relay and fifth in the 4x400meter relay.
