The Picayune Maroon Tide finished the Region 4-5A track and field championship meet in fourth place in both the men and women’s divisions while the Pearl River Central Blue Devils were in sixth and eighth, respectively.

The Lady Maroon Tide scored 70 points to finish fourth behind champion West Harrison with 139 points, Moss Point 92 and Pascagoula with 85.  The rest of the order was Long Beach with 62 points followed by Gautier with 49, East Central 17  and PRC with five points.

In the men’s division, the Maroon Tide accumulated 90 points to finish fourth behind champion Gautier with 119 points followed by Pascagoula with 109 and Long Beach with 97.  The rest of the order went West Harrison with 47, PRC 43, Moss  Point 13 and East Central with six points.

The top four finishers in each event qualified for the Class 5A South State track and field championships which will be held at Long Beach this Saturday.

The Lady Maroon Tide had one first place finish from Lacey Polderman in the 400m dash with a time of 1:03.45.  Sarah Richard was a triple-qualifier as she finished fourth in the 100m dash, third in the 200m dash and third in the triple  jump.  Kiara Bell placed second in the discus and third in the shot put to advance to the South State meet.  Other qualifiers were Hannah Purvis (3rd – 1600m), Myesha Rankin (4th – 300m hurdles) and Maya Whitehead (4th – discus).

The Lady Maroon Tide’s 4x100m relay team made up of Richard, Destiny Gray, Polderman and Quiara Wilson placed fourth while the 4x400m relay team of Gray, Kennedi Goff, Purvis and Rankin also placed fourth.

The Lady Blue Devils of PRC had one qualifier for the South State meet in India Dedeaux who placed fourth in the shot put.

In the boys’ classification, the Tide was led by double-qualifier Jake Polderman who won the 800m run and the 1600m run with times of 2:05.22 and 4:46.60, respectively.

Other qualifiers for the Maroon Tide were Coren Nixon (3rd – 100m), Tony Washington (2nd – 400), Todd Smith (2nd – 800m), Jaylin Dees (3rd – 300m hurdles) and DeMarcus Haralson (3rd – shot put).

The Maroon Tide’s 4x200m relay team of Doug Cross, Desmond Taylor, Abram Fletcher and Nixon won the event with a time of 1:29.62 while the 4x400m relay team comprised of Washington, James Smith, Dees and Polderman also won with a time of  3:33.33.  The Tide’s 4x100m relay team of Cross, Russell Whitehead, Taylor and Nixon placed second to advance.

The Blue Devils were led by three individual winners.  Bryson Penton won the 300m hurdles with a time of 41.26 and placed fourth in the 100m dash.  Caleb Mitchell won the 3200m run with a time of 10:38.52 and placed second in the 1600m  run.  Tristan Tate won the 110m high hurdles with a time of 15.44.

The Class 5A South State track and field championships will be held at Long Beach High School on Saturday, May 4th with field events set to begin at 10am followed by running events at noon.