Marion’s Darrin Baccus wins championship in discus in AA boys track state meet
Baccus finishes fifth in long jump; Ashanti Gause finishes second in 400 in girls meet
Marion – Marion High School thrower Darrin Baccus won the discus in the AA boys track and field state meet held on May 15 at the Richland Northeast track in Columbia.
Baccus won the discus with a throw of 184 feet, 0.66 inches.
Baccus was also a good enough jumper to score points as well, finishing fifth in the long jump. Kamarie Reddick scored points in the high jump with a sixth-place finish.
Alex Williamson qualified for state in the 100-meter dash but did not place. Neither did the 4x100-meter relay team nor the 4x,400 relay team.
On the girls side, Ashanti Gause just missed winning a championship, finishing second in the 400 dash. Also scoring points for the Swamp Foxes was Shamyah McKelvey. She was fifth in the discus.
Both the 4x1 and 4x4 relay teams qualified but did not place.
In the boys lower state meet held on May 9 at the Woodland High track, Baccus was the only boys individual winner, taking the discus.
Gause did win the 400 hurdles in the girls meet.
Marion played host to the Region 7 meet on May 1. Baccus had a tremendous performance, winning the shot put, the discus and the long jump while finishing second in the triple jump.
He had a throw of 172-11 in the discus, a throw of 40-07 in the shot put and a jump of 22-00 in the long jump.
Other second-place finishes for the Marion boys were Michael Anderson in the 800-meter run and Reddick in the high jump. Anderson finished third in the javelin toss, while Benjamin Watford was third in the shot put, Reddick was third in the long jump, William Self was third in the discus, and Kamari Israel was third in the 110-meter hurdles. Also finishing third was the 4x400-meter relay team.
Reddick was fourth in the triple, while Watford was fourth in the javelin. Fifth-place finishers were Kameron Davis in the 200 dash, Israel in the 400 hurdles, and the 4x800 relay team.
On the girls side, Gause and McKelvey picked up victories. Gause won the 400 in 1:00. 02 while McKelvey won the discus with a throw of 90-02.
Dileyah Phillips was third in the triple jump, and the 4x1 relay team finished third. Fourth-place finishers were Nevaeh Gurley in the high jump and the 4x4 relay team, McKelvey in the javelin and Jade Legette in the 1,600 run.
Fifth-place finishers were Aaliyah Crawford in the javelin, Phillips in the long jump, Aasyia Johnson Hyman in the 400 hurdles, Tianna Wilson in both the 200 and the 400 and Lana Gause in the 100 hurdles.
MARION BASEBALL FINISHES FOURTH IN REGION
The Marion baseball team finished fourth in Region 7 with a 6-6 record, all behind teams that won their district tournaments and advanced to the 4-team lower state tournament.
Region champion East Clarendon, No. 2 Atlantic Collegiate Academy and third place Lake City each won their respective district tournaments. Marion did not, going 0-2 in the District 7 tournament.
The Swamp Foxes were 6-17 overall. Late in the season they were being led by Malachi Graham with a .385 batting average and Andre Stanley with a .368 mark.
