Port St. Joe Girls Open Track Season with Win

The track and field season started in usual fashion for the Lady Tiger Sharks of Port St. Joe High School – with victory.

The Port St. Joe girls defeated Niceville 102-100 in the team competition to take the Panhandle Open competed last Saturday in the cold at Tommy Oliver Stadium in Bay County.

The Lady Tiger Sharks fought off the chilly temperatures and a stacked field of nearly two dozen teams with the roster of usual suspects that have helped Port St. Joe finish third, first and second in the state Class 1A track meet the past three years.

Senior Kayla Parker, signed to the University of Kentucky on a track and field scholarship, got the season off with easy wins in the long jump (17-6.5 feet), 100 hurdles (14.72, a meet record) and the 100 meters (a personal best of 12.42).

Mariah Johnson won the 300 meter hurdles in a meet record 46.71 and also finished fifth behind Parker in the 100 hurdles, with Alyssa Parker finishing ninth in that event.

Alyssa Parker also finished eighth in the 300 hurdles.

Megan Walker took first in the pole vault with a meet record of 10 feet and Ashleigh Lewis finished second, Walker seventh and Dantasia Welch eighth in the high jump.

Fanequa Larry was second in the triple jump and second in the 200 meters.

“We didn’t have but three days of practice after the end of basketball season and as cold as it was, they did pretty well,” said Port St. Joe coach Kenny Parker. “They did about what they should have done.”