Copperas Cove sends 22 athletes to 7-6A/8-6A Area Meet in 19 events

By TJ MAXWELL
Cove Leader-Press

BELTON - The Copperas Cove boys’ and girls’ track teams competed in the District 8-6A Track and Field Championships in Belton last week where they finished third and fifth, respectively.
“The Copperas Cove Lady Dawgs finished up the District 8-6A meet with a junior varsity championship, a couple of new school records and too many personal records to mention them all,” said Cove girls’ head coach Vance McAnally. “Senior Amber Boyd broke her own school record set last year in the 800m with a 2:14.95, and the 4x400m relay team of Boyd, Imari Neal, Talia Kinslow and Anayah Copeland broke the school record set earlier this year with a 4:00.00.”
Leading the Lady Dawgs was Boyd who bested her own school record in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:14.95 to best Shoemaker’s Zoe Pearson (2:17.20).
Boyd also helped set a new school record in the 4x400m relay along with senior Imari Neal, junior Talia Kinslow and freshman Anayah Copeland. The foursome finished third in the race with a school record time of 4 minutes flat to qualify for the District 7-6A/8-6A Area Meet at Midway High School on Thursday, April 20.
Boyd completed the regional berth sweep with a gold medal finish in the 1,600m run. She ran a time of 5:07.09 to best Belton rival Brooke Gilmore (5:07.77).
The Lady Dawgs nearly swept the high jump with sophomores Aidan Chace (5-feet, 5-inches) and Jada Close (5-feet) taking the top two spots at and freshman Jeala Rice taking the fourth and final qualifying spot with a mark of 5-feet. Waco Midway’s Toronica Duncan took the third spot.
Sophomore Mahal Thorpe also qualified with a second-place finish in the 100m hurdles with her time of 15.68 seconds. Harker Heights’ Jazzman Clare took the top spot with a time of 15.07.
Also qualifying with a 3rd place finish in the 4x200m relay was the foursome of Copeland, Kinslow, junior Sha’kia Williams and junior Mariah Reynolds with a time of 1:44.32. Copeland also qualified in the 400m dash with a third-place finish and time of 58.49.
The Cove varsity finished with 80 points behind Midway (148.5), Harker Heights (108), Shoemaker (89) and Belton (87.5). The Cove junior varsity girls finished first with 142 points in front of Waco Midway (111) and Killeen (80). The girls’ freshmen finished fourth with 65 points. 
Sophomore Kyle Stifflemire’s gold medal finish in the pole vault with a mark of 13-feet even and Quinton Ford’s gold medal in the long jump with a mark of 22-feet-7.75 led the boys’ efforts. Ford also finished 3rd in the triple jump with a mark of 35-feet-3 to qualify for Area.
Darious Fuselier added a silver medal in the pole vault with a mark of 12-feet-6 and the foursome of A.J. Acosta, Isaiah Hawkins, Shontez Simmons and Eric Caine earned a silver medal in the 4x200m relay with a time of 1:29.12.
Also earning podium finishes were Eric Caine with a 3rd-place finish in the 100m dash and mark of 11.11 seconds; Reginald Mouton (3rd in 800m run – 1:58.38); Tyson Curry (3rd in shot put – 47-feet-9 ¼) and the 4x100m relay team of Acosta, Hawkins, Simmons and Caine (42.26).
Also qualifying for the Area Meet were Dahmir Pearson (4th in 800m run – 1:59.04 and 4th in 300m intermediate hurdles – 40.14), Simmons (4th in 200m dash – 22.69 and Daveon Thomas (4th in shot put – 46-feet-2). 
The boys’ varsity finished third with 107 points behind Killeen (134) and Harker Heights (114). The junior varsity finished tied for fifth with 60 points and the freshmen boys finished third with 107.66 points.