Scott's Branch track and field program coming along

Dennis Brunson hssr.com Associate Editor • April 23, 2025

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Joshua Smith, Fra'Jon Bennett, Jernee Ford have had strong performances

Summerton – Scott’s Branch High School has had some good performances from both boys and girls on its track and field team.

Easily the best showing by any Eagle was senior Joshua Smith in the Bulldog Invitational at Camden High School on March 8 Smith finished third in the 400-meter hurdles and fourth in the javelin in the meet that had 20 schools participating.

Smith also had second-place finishes in both the 400 hurdles and the javelin in a meet at Carvers Bay on March 18.

“Joshua is just really a great athlete,” said Patrick Fleming, who helps coach the track team along with Clinton Bethune and Steve Nelson. “He’s a punter and kicker for us on the football team. He’s really starting to hone in on what he’s good at. He’s started to get a couple of offers (for track and field), so we can use him as an example to the younger kids for the things that are possible.”

Freshman Fra’Jon Bennett won the 800-meter run in the Carvers Bay meet in a time of 2 minutes, 16.58 seconds. In a meet at Hannah-Pamplico on April 8, Bennett finished second in the 800 and third in the 1,600.

“Fra’Jon has a lot of potential,” Fleming said. “He’s a freshman who’s getting better every day. He’s a great student who has a lot of good things awaiting him.”

On the girls side, junior Jernee Ford is having a good season. She won the shot put and finished second in the discus in the Carvers Bay meet. She won both events in the Hannah-Pamplico meet.

“She has thrown really well,” Fleming said of Ford. “I look forward to seeing how she improves as she tries to compete to win a title.”

Others who have top finishes for the girls were Treasure Johnson finishing third in the shot and the 4x100-meter relay team finishing fourth in the Carvers Bay meet.

Nazaih Richardson has had a pretty good showing in the sprint events. He was second in the 400-meter dash at Carvers Bay and was fourth in the Hannah-Pamplico meet.

The 4x100 team finished second and the 4x400 and 4x800 teams finished fourth in the Carvers Bay meet.

Scott’s Branch has 17 athletes out this season, which is a rise in numbers from last year.

“We’re just continuing to try and build the program,” Fleming said. “It’s been a process and we feel like we have some promising young athletes.”

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