Among the girls, only Jessica Woods qualified to the state meet in the shot put and discus. She won both events at the state meet.

We hosted the district in 1998. Our boys won the meet, but the trophy was given to Brookhaven due to a miscalculation of points by my scorekeeper.

However, when I got home and put everything into the computer, our boys had won.

I had to call Brookhaven and ask for the trophy back. Coach Huffman took it all in stride. He sent me the trophy back, but first sent an old trophy that had been demolished.

The regional meet in 1998 was held at Pearl. We finished second behind Quitman who had apparently qualified their entire team.

South State was at d’Iberville, who was the defending State Champion. Upon arrival at the meet, it became obvious that they expected to win again.

For the entire meet, d’Iberville was in the lead. We edged up on them at every sprint race and the 800m run (our only distance run) was the turning point. Calvin Barr finished fourth on a gutty run from the back of the pack. It was only four points, but they made the difference.

The 4 x 400 relay, the last race of the day, was the deciding factor. We finished first. Brookhaven was second and d’Iberville was third. That put us two points over d’Iberville to win the meet.

How the boys won the state meet:

When a man expects great things and they do not work out that way, they always say, "I don't know what went wrong".  Quite frankly, "I don't know what went right", seems to be in order here.

I guess I am just a pessimist to my soul. After winning district, finishing second at regional, and winning South State dramatically by two points, I really never thought we could win the State Track Meet. Oxford, winner of the north state meet, had me scared until I saw their posted times and started calculating points about half-way through the state meet.

Field events won the meet for us I feel. Neither Keith Varnado or Anthony Bonds in the shot qualified beyond South State. Quenton, whom I had observed long jumping 23 feet in the ninth grade (3 inches short of a state best) did not get out of district in that event. However, the three that did make it to the State Meet "went-off" in their own way. I had told Jamie Jackson and Paul Taylor that if they went 1 and 2in the discus, we WOULD win the state meet. Their distances said they could.

I was tied up running off the long jump when the discus guys came wandering back. Brookhaven's, and South Pike's (best distances at south state) headed for the bleachers in the blinding sun. Jamie and Paul were not to be seen. The first I saw of them was on the pedestal getting 2nd (Jamie) and third (Paul) medals. Both threw personal bests. The Brookhaven coach who was running off the high jump a few feet away said, "You are gonna win this thing." My comment was, "It's a long way to the mile relay".

Carmus Haynes, my triple jumper, did not medal. He finished fifth and out of the medals by a couple of inches. However, his 43' 6" was a personal best and he got major points.

The 100 meter dash was our next event and by now, I was free of the long jump. Quenton finished 4th and Joe Hogan finished 5th. I felt like Quenton was still scared of the muscle pull he had experienced a few weeks before and the one he experienced as a junior. He was soon to try his gimpy leg. Joseph, I feel still does not know what he can do on the track.

The 4 x 200 meter relay - not as nerve-racking as the 4 x 100, but a nervous event for me nonetheless. After Quenton did not pull up in the 100 dash, I knew we should win this one. Scratch man was Nathan Love - excellent out of the blocks and a good burner. Second was Ked Griffin, my only sophomore sprinter - not a great burner yet (injured earlier), but lots of heart and lots of potential. Third leg, Joe Hogan - lots of everything - super athlete. Fourth leg and in my fifth year with him, Quenton Mullins - unless he is 20 meters behind, we win this race. 
  
  
  My greatest fear, my kids would get lax. We had won this race by 40 - 50 meters at regionals and not much less at South State. They did not, they ran a personal record time even though I was complaining about every exchange and every leg at the end of the race. It appeared to be much slower than most of our previous races - maybe because it was not a blow-out.

The 4 X 100 relay is next. Boy, this tests all of your coaching in track. The wrong man at the wrong leg on the wrong day can be a disaster. My kids however, had proven themselves to me and I know each one. By that, I mean I know their personal strengths and weaknesses. Some of these soon-to-be gold medalists are not true sprinters. But that does not matter if they have the heart. All did.

Ked Griffin came out of the blocks in the 4th lane. I could not really tell what position we were in on the first exchange to Joe Hogan. Joe did not seem to be sprinting (he has a cruise gear he uses a lot). The exchange to Carmus (Nod) Haynes was flawless though. Nod loves the curve - he would be useless elsewhere - he is priceless here. Quenton gets the baton and the race is pretty much over as is the meet - though I did not know it yet.

Our next event is the one I felt pretty sure was ours. The 400 m dash belonged to Nathan Love this year. He had consistently shaved tenths of seconds off his quarter this year. His anchor of the 4 x 400m relay told me he could accomplish a sub-49 in his junior year. Nate came out of the blocks strong in the fourth lane. He went into his cruise mode and appeared to sit back (had me nervous again) until 300 m out when he turned on his finish.

Calvin Barr - great kid, great athlete (one I don't know what to do with yet) ran the 800 run. He had been running the mile relay and came to me knowing the mile relay would probably medal and volunteered to be pulled from the relay in order to give his best to the 800. He had come from way behind to qualify at south state by placing 4th. In a sense, he won the South State Meet. Had he finished one place back, we tie with d'Iberville. If he finishes two places back, we finish second in the meet. He showed a lot of heart. 
  
  The 200 m dash, Quenton is our only entrant. I tell him about two races prior. "If you win this race, we win the meet". I was not being malicious - I really thought the meet depended on him. As they were about to shoot the gun, a reporter from Biloxi (d'Iberville) walks up and congratulates me on winning the meet - we had a ten point lead. I break away as Quenton is finishing his race and scream for him to lean - it was that close. I thought Quenton had won it. Anyway, he ran a personal best, placing second.
 

The mile (4x400m relay) - our forte' for the last 4 or 5 years. We had medaled consistently, but had never won the gold. Having run a 3:26 earlier, I thought we might sweep the relays. As it was, I was tied up with interviews and never got my kids out of the tent to warm up as I like to. They hit the track absolutely cold or having run an hour before. I take much of the blame for our silver instead of gold. After all, I was supposed to get them ready to compete.
 

Jarrold Harrell (completely cold) gave the baton to Pat Hood (also cold) to Joe Hogan (substituting for Calvin), to Nathan Love. Nate was well behind and ran an unreal leg to finish a strong second. I did not get the split, but it seemed to be less than a 48.

We won the meet by 15 points. I, the pessimist, thought it might be lost in even the last event - or I just wanted the best for my kids. It really hurt Nathan when he ran a race as he did in the 4 x 400 relay and finished second. I knew he was upset - even after being a major part of a state championship, he was almost in tears.

I think this may have had something to do with the fact that the win seemed dimmed. We never really got excited. Nathan was downright depressed and had me upset. The kids, after eating, slept all the way home - as though it had been just another meet.

These are the guys who won McComb's first State meet: