Bears take first in Burke Relays
By Anne Marie Kyzer annemariek@thetruecitizen.com

Damion Johnson claimed first place in the triple jump.

The Bears weren't going to be shown up on their own track.

The Burke County High School boys track team took first place in the Burke County Relays Saturday. BCHS hosts the event each year, which attracted eight teams this year coming from as far away as the Atlanta area.

The Bears scored 138.5 points as a team, finishing above Greenbrier (128.5), Evans (80), Eastside (78), Lakeside (34), Jenkins County (20), Metter (13) and Harlem (1) high schools.

"The guys had another solid performance," coach Purvis Dukes said. "Several guys are making contributions all over the track. Cornelius (Washington) is nursing a back injury and has been slowed, but several teammates are stepping up to fill the void."

Washington, who won the region championship in the 100 meters last year, has consistently placed first in both the 100 and the shot put this year until last week.

Dukes said his team also improved in several events at the Burke County Relays last weekend.

The 400-meter relay team ran their fastest time of the season during preliminaries. Though they were forced to make a last minute substitution in the finals due to an injury, the team still placed second in the event. They gave up only about 1.5 seconds using a team member who had not run the event all year.

"In order to compete, we must have guys place in the top three of every event, and these guys have really stepped the pace up," Dukes said. "If we keep everyone focused and keep improving time, they will have a chance to do something special."

The young Lady Bears also had several team members turn in good performances at the event.

They finished fourth out of eight teams, scoring 57 points. Greenbrier's girls claimed the top spot with 152 points. Eastside came in second with 73 points and Lakeside was third with 72.

"The girls did an outstanding job for the most part on Saturday," Dukes said. "We saw glimpses of some great things from several of them."

Though Burke County was scheduled to take on Jenkins County and West Laurens high schools at home tomorrow (Thursday), the meet has been postponed.