HUNTINGTON'S JANAYAH DOTSON ANCHORS A SPRINT RELAY EARIER THIS YEAR
It was no surprise to anyone that Huntington's Demetria Harris won all three of her individual events on Thursday at the Wesley/Payne Relays, hosted by Booker T. Washington. The only reason she didn't win four is that she was only entered in three.
Harris and her teamate, Huntington junior Janayah Dotson, each won three individual events to lead the Raiders to the Caddo Parish championship by scoring 164 points, 70 points more than runner-up Captain Shreve.
Dotson, who is ranked No. 8 in the 400m in Louisiana with a season best of 57.41, won her specialty with a time of 1:00.60. It marked the third win of the season for Dotson, who is a junior.
She also had a personal record in the 200m (26.04), which also earned her a gold medal.
The surprise for Dotson came in her season debut in the 100m. She won that event as well with a 12.42.
"It felt good," Dotson said of her 100m performance. "I was kind of nervous at first because it was my first 100m of the year, but when I got out there I was like this is easy."
Dotson is proud of her state ranking in the 400m. It is hard for her to believe where she is considering where she started out in the event.
"When I first started running the 400m I was like 'I'm not going to be able to do this'," Dotson said. "But then as I kept running, my time kept going down and down. One meet I ran a 57. Ever since then I haven't been able to get down to that time, but I believe I can and I'm going to break the school record."
While Dotson is chasing the school record of 56.02, she is benefitting from the leadership of one of the best to ever do it on Rasberry Lane-- Harris, who won the 100m hurdles on Thursday with a wind aided time of 14.50, owns the school record in both the 100m hurdles (14.25) and triple jump (41-0).
On Thursday, Harris jumped 17-5 in the long jump and 37-1 in the triple jump.
We asked Dotson what she will miss about Harris when she graduates next month and continues her career at Southern University.
"I'm going to miss her motivational speeches," Dotson said. "She is always like 'you got this,' 'don't be nervous,' She boost you up because she has been here before. She knows what it is and what it takes to be a champion."
Besides Dotson and Harris, Huntington picked up wins form Kaylie Dupree (46.55) in the 300m hurldes and their 4x100 (49.95) and 4x400 (4:18.01). Livvy West, Kyndal Graham, Shuntae First, and Dupree were on the 4x100 relay. Nyla Ware, Jaila Marshall, McKenzie Lott, and Haliey Evans were on the 4x400m.
In the boys' division, C.E. Byrd was behind Captain Shreve going into the final event. While they did not win the 4x400, the Yellow Jackets finished high enough to win the Caddo Parish championship, 120-118.
Byrd had two athletes to win multiple events. Primes Brock won the shot put and discus, and John Patrick Bartle won both the 1600m and 3200m.
Next week, Huntington prepares to take the first step toward a defense of their 2023 LHSAA Class 4A State Championship with the District 1-4A Meet in Stonewall.
We asked Dotson what it will take for the team to successfully defend their title in a little over three weeks at Bernie Moore Stadium.
"It's going to take a lot of teamwork, hard work, and dedication," Dotson said.