This weekend senior Jacobee Jones will compete at the state track meet at The University of Texas in Austin.  Jones was the only one of the nine SHS regional competitors to qualify for the state meet.

“I am very excited to go to state,” he said.  “Going to state is one of the biggest things you can do as a high school athlete. It will definitely be a big experience and maybe open some doors for me going forward.”

He placed first out of 15 competitors with his qualifying vault of 16 feet. This will be Jones’s first time competing on the state level.

“What’s given me the most success is practicing and being consistent. That is what separates the professionals from the amateurs,” Jones said.

On April 26-27, regional qualifiers freshman Kennedy Swann, juniors Kendelle McCoy and Cameron Quinn, and seniors Zareia Jarvis, Laylah Pleasant, Braylen Brooks, James Whyte and Jones represented Sachse in the All Conference Regional Track & Field Meet at Baylor University.

Quinn specializes in all short distance races including the 100 and 200-meter dashes and relays. He set two personal records this season with a 10.75 in the 100-meter dash and 22.09 in the 200-meter dash.

“Over the summer I plan on working on my endurance and my stamina. Doing this I’ll be able to keep my top speed for longer, so I can get a stronger finish,” Quinn said.

In nearly all relay events Quinn runs the fourth leg. In events such as the 4×100 and 4×200 relays, the fourth leg must be the fastest or at least one of the fastest on the team. He has held this responsibility for two years now.

“With being a leader at such a young age, it’s pretty important. Now that I have the chance at it, I really take pride in my role,” Quinn said.

McCoy and  Jarvis have been steady contributors for the girls 4×200-meter relay over their years running for Sachse.

“I was very excited to be competing in the regional track meet for the third time in my high school track career,” McCoy said.  “Making it far with the new people that we got this year made things even better. We had some freshman come in, and they were eating up the track. I feel like their competitiveness brought a new energy to the team.”

With the help of Pleasant and Swann joining the relay team this year, they placed 4th at regionals.

“It was pretty scary being a freshman on varsity because if something were to go wrong, I would feel the one to blame,” Swann said.  “This is something my team helped me overcome later on in the season.”

Pleasant is very familiar with being in the spotlight for running the hurdles. For the previous two years she has consistently won gold in the 100-meter hurdles and has competed in multiple area and regional meets, as well as the Texas Relays. A preseason accident didn’t stop her chances of competing in regionals.

“The beginning of the season was kind of off due to an accident, putting me far behind but I feel like it has been a breakthrough for me so it has just motivated me to keep going and shine,” Pleasant said.

This season Pleasant had to step up and be apart of the 4×200-meter relay along with her hurdling events. This year was her first time to compete on a relay team.  Although she had more of a workload this year she still managed to ensure a successful season in the hurdles and was part of a regional qualifying relay team.

Whyte may be small in stature in comparison to other more hefty throwers, but with his form and explosiveness, he has excelled in shot put throughout his high school career. His personal best so far is a throw of 47 feet  and four inches.

“What brought me far this season was the coaching I recieved, hard work of course and also football workouts that helped me as a thrower,” he said.  “I’m not the biggest guy and usually I’m not the strongest, so I have to use explosiveness to get the ball where I want it to go,”

Brooks has been a phenom throughout all of his years at Sachse in long jump and triple jump. His personal best sits at a 23-2 ½  for long jump and a 45-3 for the triple jump.

“The important factors that come down to jumping far are speed, your lift off of the board and the form,” Brooks said.  “Working with Coach Reed really took my jumping to the next level.”