The Francis Marion Running Rams competed at the King of the West (KOW) invitational at Central High School in Tuscaloosa on April 6th. The girls placed 4th out of 16 varsity teams, and the boys placed 5th out of 20 varsity teams. Johnny Hudson won the varsity shot put. Deldrick Shelton not only won the varsity high jump but set the KOW meet record with 6 foot 6 inches. Carlton Tutt placed 2nd in the varsity javelin. La’Chelsea Moore placed 3rd in both the varsity javelin and varsity shot-put. The 4×100 relay girls, run by Tamyia Moore, Elanna Lewis, Ke’Lashia Shelton, and Zy’Tashia Moore, placed 3rd in the varsity division. The 4×100 girl’s throwers relay, run by Stan’Qresha Jones, Jakyrria Bradford, Michaela Rutledge, and La’Chelsea Moore, placed 3rd in the varsity division. Stan’Qresha Jones placed 3rd in the junior varsity javelin. In addition to these top finishes, most athletes that competed all set personal records on one or more events.
To add icing on the cake, multiple Francis Marion school records were broken on April 6th. The 4×100 relay girls lowered their own school record earlier this season from 51.72 seconds to 51.27 and continue to be ranked number one in all of 2A. La’Chelsea Moore beat the old shot-put record made Esha Lapsley by 5 inches with a throw of 34 feet and 10 inches, which ranks her as number one in all of 2A. Jamarian Essex broke Dameyune Mayhand’s 1600m record in 2016 with a 5:15, lowering the previous record by over 10 seconds. Deldrick Shelton’s meet record also literally raised the bar on Jarius Smith’s 6 foot 4 inches high jump record from last Spring. Shelton’s jump took him to the top of the 2A rankings.
The Rams compete April 9th at Center Point High School, and then begin fine tuning their skills for Sectionals on April 26-27th where both boys and girls have a high chance to be AHSAA 2A Section 2 champions. The following weekend, all those who qualified for the state championship will go to Cullman High School to attempt to achieve their ultimate goal……a first ever state championship on behalf of Francis Marion and their community.
