Marion's Jaeda Davis, Ashanti Gause, 4x100 relay win gold in AA girls track state meet

  Marion –   The Marion High School girls track and field team scored points in each of the events it qualified for in the AA state meet held on May 16 at Spring Valley’s Harry Parone Stadium in Columbia.

           Marion brought three event state championships back to the Pee Dee as it finished fifth overall with 43 points, just two points behind third place Hampton County. Those who won state titles were Jaeda Davis in the 200-meter dash, Ashanti Gause in the 400 dash and the 4x100-meter relay team.

           Davis won the 200 in a time of 25.91 seconds while Gause won the 400 in 56.66. The 4x1 team finished with a time 9f 48.73.

           Davis just missed winning another gold medal, finishing second in the 100 dash in 12.17.

           Shaniyah Mckelvey and Yani Thomas both placed in the discus. Mckelvey was fourth with a toss of 28.04 meters, while Thomas was seventh with a throw of 23.9.

           Kristin Shaw was seventh in the long jump with a leap of 4.75 meters.

MARION BOYS TIE FOR EIGHTH IN STATE TRACK MEET

           Jamiere Legette and Darrion Baccus both won individual state titles to lead the Maron boys to a tie for eighth place in the AA boys track state meet.

           Legette won the high jump with a height of 1.95 meters, while Baccaus won the discus with a toss of 49.4 meters. They accounted for 20 of the Swamp Foxes’ 26 points with those gold medals.

           Legette also scored five more points by finishing fourth in the triple jump at 13.8 meters. Marion’s other point came with an eighth-place finish in the 4x100 relay.

            MARION SOFTBALL TEAM FINISHES AS STATE RUNNER-UP

The Marion softball team didn’t have the tremendous regular season like it had the two previous years. The Swamp Foxes finished third in Region 8-AA after winning region championships the two years prior.

           The state playoffs? Now that’s a different story. Marion won its third consecutive district title and fiinished as the Lower State runner-up to region foe and eventual state champion East Clarendon in the Lower State tournament.

           “We had a hard time this seasn due to field issues and my team not hitting in the beginning of games,” said head coach Kenosha Hyman, who led the Swamp Foxes to the state championship series last season after finishing as Lower State runner-up in 2023. “We were not consistent with our hitting but overall we did good. We came back from third in our region to undefeated in the district.”

           Marion was led by three All-Region 8 performers in Maliyah Williams, Kynndi Jenkins and Jaeda Horne. Williams had a batting average of an even .500 to go with five home runs, 27 runs batted in and 20 stolen bases. Jenkins had a .414 batting average, a homer and 17 RBI. She was also the main pitcher, finishing the season with 134 strikeouts.

           Horne finished with a pair of home runs and 15 RBI to go with a .300 average.

            LEGETTE, PRATT-LESTER BASEBALL ALL -REGION

           Jamier Legette and La’Quintin Pratt-Lester were selected to the All-Region 8 baseball team.

           Legette finished with a .595 average to go along with seven doubles, two triples, 36 stolen bases, six RBI and 21 runs. Pratt-Lester batted 327 with seven doubles, two triples, eight RBI 12 runs and 11 stolen bases.