Hill, Gibbons earn MVP honors as Natchez sweeps

Published 12:00 am Thursday, April 1, 2004

VICKSBURG &045; To Tanieka Hill, it’s sort of becoming routine. But to those watching the Natchez High girls’ track team, she’s really starting to blossom.

However, it may just appear that way. Hill, the Lady Bulldogs’ senior standout in hurdles and relays, won both the 100 and 300 hurdles Saturday at the Vicksburg Invitational meet and ran legs on the 400- and 1,600-meter hurdles that also finished first.

For that, Hill was named MVP of the meet. Next week it’s on to the Mississippi State meet, where she’ll also use it also as an official visit to decide where she’ll run after graduation.

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&uot;She’s doing very well,&uot; said NHS head coach Larry Wesley, who noted Hill’s choices are down to State and South Alabama. &uot;With a Janice Davis on your team, she overshadows a lot of people. There are a lot of outstanding girls on that track team, and sometimes you forget about all those other girls. It’s the same with Keddrieck Gibbons &045; we’ve got Travis Washington. I guess next year Taji Dorsey come out even more.&uot;

Hill won the 100 hurdles in 15.04 seconds and the 300 hurdles in 45.11 seconds. She teamed with Dorsey, Ke’Airra Jones and Candace Frye in the 400 to win it in 49.37 seconds. The Lady Bulldogs won the meet with 107 points.

In the 1,600 relay, Hill, Dorsey, Jones and Whitney Thomas won that in 4:14.23.

On the boys’ side, Gibbons also was named meet MVP despite competing with that bandaged hand with stitches following a gash suffered at the NSIC meet last week. Gibbons won the long jump at 22-7 3/4, the 300 hurdles in 40.20 seconds but didn’t run in the 110 hurdles due to his hand.

&uot;When he did the 300 hurdles, he had to line up in a three-point stance,&uot; Wesley said. &uot;That’s how he improvised with it. Jumping was kind of hard &045; with the sand, we had to hurry up and clean it off.&uot;

On the girls’ side, other results were Frye in sixth in the long jump, Dorsey in second and Thomas sixth in the triple jump, Jones in third in the high jump, Frye in fifth in the 100 hurdles and Thomas fourth and Angelica Broadway fifth in the 400-meter.

Also, the 800-relay team of Hill, Dorsey, Jones and Broadway finished second. Porsha Singleton was second in the 800, Verissa Chatman was fourth in the 800, Jones was second in the 200 and Dorsey third in the 200.

Other team scoring were Indianola Gentry in second with 96, Greenville Weston in third with 86, Vicksburg with 69, Brookhaven with 63, Warren Central with 54, Hinds AHS with 45 and St. Aloysius with four.

On the boys’ side, Washington won the 400 in 51.29 seconds. He also finished second in the 100 and third in the 200.

Other results were Jeremy Buckels in fifth in the long jump and in the high jump, John King was sixth in the high jump, John Isaac was fourth in the 3,200, Montrel Shelvy was fifth in the 3,200, Jerald Shelvy was fourth in the 100 hurdles and Travis Graves second and Byron Augustin sixth in the 1,600.

Also, the 400 relay team of Washington, Gibbons, Derrick McGee and Buckels finished second. The 800 relay team of Gibbons, Shelvy, Kentrail White and McGee was second, and the 1,600 relay of Graves, Gibbons, Shelvy and White finished second.

Each of the three ran without Anthony Green, Wesley said.