While the North DeSoto mascot-the Griffin-may be a creature born in Greek Mythology, the beat down that the Griffin track and field program put on their opponents on Saturday at the Yellow Jacket Relays was real life.
The boys doubled up runner-up Huntington, and the North Desoto girls were two points shy of scoring 200 points in a meet where coaches were able to enter three athletes and two relay teams.
"We had some outstanding performances in the field," North DeSoto's Coach Robert Madison said. "You don't get too many opportunities to have three athletes and two relays. This showed we got a little depth that helped out with the team score."
While some of the Griffins competed on Thursday at the Benton Tiger Relays-like discus thrower Dominic Smith, who used the windy conditions in his favor to throw a personal record 154-4, most of the North DeSoto were not able to compete in the rain-shortened meet.
What a difference two days make as the conditions on Saturday were perfect for great performances.
"With this being our first official outdoor meet, I thought overall we had some outstanding performances from (Marques) "Gator" Hampton in the shot, girls relays - 4x100, 4x200,"Madison said. "We had a hurdler who gave us points. We had a sophomore go 6-6 in the high jump - Javonte Taylor, so this was a good first meet."
Besides Hampton (50-9) and Taylor, other Griffins coming out of the Yellow Jacket Relays with a gold medal included Dylan Compton in the 800m (2:08.25), Lake Bates in the 400m (52.12), Landon Foust in the pole vault (7-6).
On the girls' side, North DeSoto was led by senior thrower Kendall Odums, who both the shot put (30-9) and the discus (107-8). North DeSoto also finished second and third in the discus to score 24 points in the event.
_cover.jpg)
"I've got to give all the credit to my girls," Madison said of the girls' throws group. "We have a very large girls' team. I think we have over 20 throwers. One thing we talk about every single day at practice is competition. They know we can only take two to each meet. We put them in the ring and say 'hey, this week she got you. What are you going to do to respond?' I think we have five girls throwing over 90' so these type of meets help us out."
Other Lady Griffin winners included Natalie Cobb in the high jump (4-8) and Molly Wiley in the pole vault (8-6).
The Griffin relay teams won two races in the Boys division and two races in the girls division. The boys won the 4x800 (9:12.07) and 4x400 (3:41.93). The girls won the 4x200 (1:48.17) and 4x100 (50.20).
The Griffins will be in action on Thursday at the Airline Viking Relays.