The Sulphur boys wrapped up a very successful season last weekend, finishing 4th as a team at the Class 4A State Track Meet in Catoosa.
Damontre Patterson won his second straight state championship in the 100, leading the Dogs to 62 team points, finishing behind state champion Ada (102.5), runner-up Heritage Hall (93) and Cache (82).
“It was a great season for the Sulphur track team,” said Sulphur head coach Emile Heitland. “The boys qualified for state in 12 of 17 events and had 14 state qualifiers.”
The Dogs relay teams placed in three of the four events, allowing most qualifiers to come home with a medal.
“We ended up medaling in three of the four relays and five individual events,” Heitland said. “Overall, five of the 14 boys brought home state medals.”
Patterson broke his own school record with a 10.46 in the 100 to go back-to-back but was also the runner-up in the 200.
Patterson also broke the school record - set back in 1961 - in the 200, as well, with a 21.72.
The head coach spoke about the depth of his team heading into the meet and how he thought his entire team had a chance to place.
“This is one of the few times in my coaching career heading up to state I felt like every one of our qualifiers had a legitimate chance to place at state,” he said. “Several of them fell short but it wasn’t because we didn’t perform well.”
The 4x100 relay (Patterson, Trace Todd, Brytan Gaddy,Austin Garrett) broke the school record on Friday in the prelims, running 42.43.
The group ran the same exact time on Saturday in the finals, good enough for 2nd place, capping off an amazing season.
“The relay times in class 4A this year were faster than I have ever seen them since I have been coaching,” Heitland said. “I knew our handoffs would have to be perfect and we would have to run really well to have a chance to podium.”
The same group ran the 4x200 relay, but like Heitland said, handoffs were the difference, as the Dogs placed 5th.
“It came down to handoffs and we had a bad exchange which cost us placing as high as we should off,” Heitland said. “It wasn’t anyone’s fault it just happened.”
“You can’t duplicate 4x200 handoffs in practice because runners are always coming in at different speeds after sprinting 200 meters, so it’s kind of a guessing game in practice determining your steps. We ended up getting on the podium despite a bad handoff.”
The 4x800 relay (Huston Holder, Kaleb Madron, Jaxon Freehill and Treygon Gehrig) continued to perform at its best, setting another personal best by running 8:23.48 and finishing 6th.
“I knew going into the race they would have to PR to get on the podium and they did,” Heitland said. “It was very exciting to see this group get a medal. We had a freshman in Jaxon earning his first state medal and a senior in Treygon that got to compete and medal in his first state track meet ever.”
Jayden McClure, who started pole vaulting only a couple of months ago, finished 5th, capping off an improbable latter half of the season.
“I was a little concerned how Jayden would perform going into the meet,” Heitland said. “He suffered a back injury in practice on Wednesday and the state meet would only be his 4th track meet ever to pole vault in. But Jayden showed up big time and showed what kind of competitor he is.”
Gaddy was 5th in the long jump, while Madron finished off an impressive season with a new PR in the 800, finishing 4th with a time of 1:58.31.
“We did what we needed to do to give ourselves a chance,” said Heitland. “We just got beat by other great performances.”
“I couldn’t be prouder of this team. We had a lot of adversity going into this week and showing up and performing like they did showed what kind of grit and competitive drive they have.”
The girls team had five state qualifiers, including one relay, but were led by freshman Jayden Lee.
“She had a PR again in the 800 meter with a 2:27.29 but fell short of the medal stand,” Heitland said. “She had an unbelievable freshman season and will be fun to watch the next three seasons.”
The other list of state qualifiers and their events are as follows:
•Boys 4x400 - Brytan Gaddy, Trace Todd, Austin Garrett, Triston Grantham
•Discus - Justus Gilliam
•High Jump - Dax Lowrance
•Pole Vault - Landy DeArman
•300 hurdles - Grady Hardoin
• 300 hurdles - Triston Grantham
•Girls 4x400 - Kate Woods, Jayden Lee, Jaydelyn Scheer, and Amaurie Peters
•Shotput - Kenleigh Johnson
•Discus - Kenleigh Johnson
