Distance
Gavin Wheat winning the 1600m at the Hattiesburg High Season Opener
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Gavin Wheat continues incredible season, dominates Hattiesburg Invitational
At the Hattiesburg High Invitational, Oak Grove senior Gavin Wheat continued the momentum he generated at the Pearl Track & Field Opener, a meet performance that consisted of a 9:33.7 in the 3200m, as well as a win of 4:33.6 in the 1600m.
Wheat won the Varsity Boys 1600m at Hattiesburg in a Mississippi No. 1 time of 4:27.8, crossing the line 10 seconds ahead of runner-up finisher Jaden Gray, who also earned a lifetime best of 4:37.1. The William Carey signee then doubled back to win the Varsity Boys 800m in another lifetime best of 2:02.0, his third win out of four races this season.
RANKINGS: Mississippi High School Boys 1600m List
Gavin Wheat has already built quite a resume in his 2023 Outdoor Track and Field campaign, and we can only guess what he has in store in the near future.
Varsity Boys 800m at Madison Central does not disappoint
In this race, we got to see the outdoor debut of reigning MHSAA 6A champion and recent William Carey commit, Miguel Bankston.
The question in this race was if Bankston would be challenged or not. The answer was a resounding yes. Bankston was pushed the whole race by the likes of teammate Fabian Babin and Braxton Rea from Madison Central, but he also had to contend with a hard surge from Pearl's Tanner Moore, a 4:34 miler in his own right.
All in all, Bankston remained undefeated for the season, and Mississippi can look forward to more matchups between Bankston and Moore this season.
Ashton Rainey Successful Season Debut
Ocean Springs' Ashton Rainey, a two-time All-MHSAA performer in Cross Country, had a successful season debut at the Goula Invitational, competing in both the 1600m and 3200m. The Ocean Springs senior placed second in both events, finishing as the top Mississippian.
In the 3200m, she ran 11:35.5, which now ranks her as the second fastest girl in Mississippi this year across this distance, less than a second behind Tupelo's Brookelyn Morgan.
RANKINGS: Mississippi High School Girls 3200m List
Rainey doubled back to run 5:35.5 in the 1600m, good for a Top 10 Mississippi ranking and ending the day with two lifetime bests.
Fellow Lady Greyhound Sarah Litton, the 2022 MHSAA 3200m Bronze Medalist, also earned a lifetime best in the 3200m, covering eight laps in 11:41.4, now No. 3 in Mississippi.
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Katherine Neal wins Rumble in the Jungle, earns Miss. No. 1 in 1600m
Pearl's Katherine Neal took the Mississippi High School Girls' distance running scene by storm, throwing down a Mississippi No. 1 performance of 5:26.2 and displaying a monstrous last lap in the Varsity Girls 1600m, good enough to win the event at the Rumble in the Jungle.
RANKINGS: Mississippi High School Girls 1600m List
It was also rumored that Neal split a 2:27 in the 4x800m earlier that day.
The Pearl junior has displayed some remarkable performances since the indoor season, and she has made herself a force to be reckoned with in MHSAA 6A Girls' distance running.
Brown brothers go 1-2 in Northridge 1600m
At this point, we don't even know why we are surprised.
In their Outdoor Track and Field season opener, Taylor Brown and Andrew Brown, went 1-2 in the Varsity Boys 1600m at the Northridge Black & Blue Invitational.
Taylor took the win in 4:31.0, and little brother Andrew was right behind in 4:32.1, a new Mississippi 8th-grade state record in the event and now ranked as the No. 2 8th-grader in the country.
Taylor and Andrew are now No. 3 and 4 in Mississippi in the event, respectively, and leaves one question - Once you add reigning MHSAA 6A Champion Jaheim Bridges to the equation, could Tupelo have three athletes in the 1600m run at the 2023 MHSAA 6A Track and Field Championships?
Charlee Brees Franks at the Hattiesburg High Invitational
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Quick Hits:
*Charlee Brees Franks won the weekend in the Varsity Girls 800m run, running a Mississippi No. 3 performance of 2:31.1 at the Hattiesburg High Invitational, a lifetime best for the Columbia sophomore. Franks also won the Varsity Girls 1600m run in 5:44.9, concluding a very successful season debut, and is potentially in the hunt for some MHSAA 4A titles in the Spring.
*Ocean Springs sophomore Tate Castleman took the Varsity Boys 1600m at the Goula Invitational in a lifetime best and MileSplit Mississippi 1st-Team Standard of 4:39
*Jackson Prep's Olivia Smith won the Varsity Girls 800m at the Goula Invitational in 2:32.4, now ranking fourth in Mississippi in the event. Smith is also ranked fourth in Mississippi in the High School Girls 1600m.
*Colin Brannon and Christian Parks had an early season duel in the Varsity Boys 3200m at the Rumble in the Jungle. Brannon successfully defended his home turf in 9:58.0 to Parks' 10:03.6.
*Maine Lund, now competing for South Panola High School, earned three Top 3 finishes at the out-of-state Northridge-Black & Blue Invitational. Lund, the 2022 MHSAA 5A Cross Country Runner-up, won the Varsity Girls 1600m in 5:53.3, and also added a 2:32.9 in the Varsity Girls 800m.
*Germantown's Josh Will pulled off an upset for the ages, taking the Rumble in the Jungle Varsity Boys 1600m title from the slow heat in a 33-second lifetime best of 4:47.3
*Gulfport's Braylin Carter and Biloxi's Jordan Sanderson squared off in a two-man duel of a race. In what became a battle between two cities it was Carter who barely squeaked out a win over Sanderson with a time of 2:03.3. Sanderson was one-tenth away from winning his second race of the evening, having already won the 1600m.