Bogalusa’s Rankins finishes runner-up in shot put
Published 7:00 am Wednesday, April 20, 2016
HAMMOND — Bogalusa’s D’Sha Rankins tallied a runner-up finish in the shot put at the Strawberry Relays, which took place at the Southeastern Track Complex at Southeastern Louisiana University on Friday.
Rankins recorded a distance of 37 feet, 2 inches for the second-place finish. Field MVP Ashley Davis of Live Oak captured the event at 41-0.
The rest of the local athletes in the shot put were Bogalusa’s Destiny St. Amant (25-0) and Varnado’s Ke’arria Green tying for 13th, and Pine’s Karley Voth (24-4) and Varnado’s Michela Myres (24-3.5) finishing 16th and 17th.
Two other local athletes posted a top-five finish.
Bogalusa’s Jameka Lucas was fourth in the 300-meter hurdles (53.58 seconds). St. Thomas Aquinas’ Patricia Todd won in 48.98.
Varnado’s Yienna Kemp (97-5) was fourth for the javelin. Metairie Park Country Day’s Leigh Maher won at 122-0.
Bogalusa’s Diamond Martin (91-0) was sixth with Varnado’s Tyquasia Allen (74-7) and Bogalusa’s Lulu Ball (74-6) going 16th and 17th.
In the team competition, Bogalusa (15.5 points) finished 13th, while Varnado (four points) was 16th.
St. Thomas Aquinas won the meet with 75 points in a close competition. John Curtis was just seven points behind for second and third-place Cabrini was only 12 points out of first. Nineteen teams scored at least one point.
Bogalusa (53.94 seconds) and Varnado (57.17) were fifth and 10th in the 4×100 relay, as John Curtis won the event in 49.54.
Bogalusa’s runners included Rankins, Ball, Airreka Sowell and De’Erica Myers. Varnado’s team featured Green, Jaden Foster, Tonisha Brister and Tyisha Newkirk.
Rankins (13.89) finished 10th in the 100. Cabrini’s Taylor Mumford was the winner in 12.70.
Bogalusa’s Sowell (29.22), Bogalusa’s O’Layzha Morris (30.10), Varnado’s Green (32.19) and Pine’s Lauren Richardson (37.34) were 13th, 16th, 21st and 27th in the 200. Curtis’ Dar’jean Brown won in 26.27.
Voth (1:27.06), Varnado’s Destiny Keys (1:27.83) and Pine’s Hanna Jones (1:33) ran 17th through 19th in the 400, as Curtis’ Layla Pongracz topped the race in 1:01.
Varnado’s Brittany Smith (3:33) was 23rd in the 800. St. Thomas Aquinas’ Destiny Williams won in 2:25.
Bogalusa’s Diamond Martin (21.68) was 12th in the 100-hurdles. Overall MVP Alysia Terry of Ursuline Academy won in 16.79.
Morris (4-6) was tied Metairie Park Country Day’s Aimee Barousse for sixth place in the high jump. Chalmette’s Myrielle Powell won at 5-4.
Varnado’s Quierra Bickham (14-10) tied Riverside Academy’s Bria Neal for seventh place in the long jump. Foster (14-5) was 12th and Powell won the event with a distance of 16-10.
Rankins (82-0), Ball (70-4), Allen (56-9) and Varnado’s Mykerra Jackson (52-0) were ninth, 13th, 17th and 20th in the discus. Davis’ distance of 113-4 was first overall.
Live Oak’s Madison Larson was the track MVP.