By By Rocky Higginbotham/The Meridian Star
March 27, 2001
Former Northeast Lauderdale standout James Shelton shined for the Ole Miss Rebels in this past weekend's Alabama Relays.
But a group of tracksters who are currently a little closer to home made quite a bit of noise, as well.
Meridian Community College's men's track team captured first place in the Open College division of the meet, outdistancing Morehouse College 58-52 to claim the crown. The next closest squad had just 20 points.
MCC did it with three first-place finishes in the relays.
The Eagles captured the 4x200m relay with a time of 1:30.26 thanks to the effort of Ivan Gray, Shedrick Moss, Greg Lambert and Damien Samuels.
Gray, Moss, Lambert and Kenneth Wade also teamed to take third in the 4x100m relay with a time of 43.05.
MCC's other first-place finishes came in the 4x800m and distance medley relays.
In the 4x800m race, Samuels, Courtney Barlow, Eric Jackson and Packnet completed their race in 7:44.28, qualifying that quartet for the nationals in Odesa, Texas.
In the distance medley relay, Jackson, Gideon Chepkwony, Jerry Teachey and Courtney Barlow were tops with a time of 11:08.51.
MCC was second in the 4x400m relay, as Gray, Lambert, Samuels and Dale Moorehouse finished the race in a time of 3:23.43.
The Eagles' 4x1500m relay team of Jackson, Chepkwony, Teachey and Charlie Chance finished second, while the spring medley relay team of Moss, Wade, Moorehouse and Teachey was third with a time of 3:38.18.
Rocky Higginbotham is the sports editor of The Meridian Star. E-mail him at rhigginbotham@themeridianstar.com.