By Joseph W. Gex, II

Item Sports Correspondent

LONG BEACH — The Picayune Maroon Tide boys track team is in the lead after Day 1 of the Division 8-4A track and field championship meet being held at Long Beach while the Poplarville Lady Hornets sit in second place following the completion of all field events and the 3200m final.

Picayune leads all boys’ teams with 62 points followed by Long Beach with 54.50, Poplarville 42, St. Stanislaus 40, D’Iberville 34.50, Bay High 20 and Pearl River Central with nine points.

The Long Beach Lady Bearcats tallied 75 points to take the lead at the halfway point in the meet followed by Poplarville with 69, Picayune 46, D’Iberville 42 and Bay High with 25 points.

The top four finishers in each event qualify for the regional championship meet that is also being held at Long Beach High School on Friday, April 24th.

Picayune won three field events during the day and qualified athletes in six events. Double-qualifier Reggie Bailey won the long jump with a leap of 22’ 3 ?” and finished second in the triple jump with a jump of 42’ 7 ?”.

Cedrick Brown won the triple jump with a distance of 42’ 8 ?” while Derionne Stewart placed second in the high jump with a height of 5’8”. Jeremiah Peters placed second in the long jump with a leap of 20’ 2 ?”.

Micah Bergeron was the third winner for Picayune when he claimed top honors in the pole vault with a height of 12’. Jonathan Billups placed third in the shotput with a throw of 43’ 8 ?” to round out the regional qualifiers for Picayune in the field events.

Poplarville won two field events and qualified three overall for regional competition in the boys’ meet.

Henry Akeem won the discus with a throw of 126’ ?” while Henry Leterrio took top honors in the shotput with a distance of 44 11 ?”. The other boys qualifier was Jermaine Woods with a fourth place finish in the high jump with a height of 5’6”.

The top finisher for Pearl River Central in the boys division was Colby Dillard who recorded a fifth place finish in both the shotput and discus with throws of 41’ 5” and 115’ ?”, respectively.

In the girls division, Poplarville won three events and qualified eight individuals including triple-qualifier Bretta Hart. Hart won the triple jump with a leap of 31’ 10 ?” and placed second in both the long jump (15’ 4”) and high jump (4’ 10”).

Jessica Harry won the shotput with a throw of 31’ 4 ?”. Raven Purnell and Meranda Brown both qualified in the discus with throws of 82’ 7” and 73’ 3”, respectively.

Stacy Hagenson won the 3200m run in 11:56.69 while Tkeyia Hart placed fourth in the pole vault with a height of 6’6”.

Hannah Nunez was the lone winner for the Lady Maroon Tide in the field events with a victory in the high jump with a height of 5’2”. The Lady Maroon Tide qualified individuals in four evens on Tuesday. Joining Nunez in the high jump will be teammate Sahara Wilson who placed fourth with a height of 4’8”. Desherra Jackson placed third in both the long jump and triple jump with leaps of 14’9” and 30’ 11 ”, respectively.

Jennifer Stockstill placed fourth in the 3200m run with a time of 15:20.35.

The top finisher for Pearl River Central was Emily Speights in the long jump with an 11th place finish.

The finals for all running events are scheduled for today at Long Beach High School.

Both Picayune teams are defending champs.