Tayshawn Reeves Is Hurdles State Champion, Again
Monticello has a repeat GHSA State Champion in their midst! Last Friday and Saturday Tayshawn Reeves, a junior at Jasper County High School, conquered the 300 meter hurdles for the second year in a row.
On Friday, he posted the fastest time in his heat at 39.13 seconds, allowing him to advance to the finals held on Saturday. He ran even faster in the finals, posting a time of 38.94 seconds, and beating second place finisher Jaydyn Young of Vidalia by almost a second and a half (40.30)!
Coach Chris Pennamon, elated over Tayshawn’s repeat performance said, “Friday did not go according to plan with none of our field events producing any medalists despite being predicted to have two medalists out of the three field event participants. Then our first runner didn’t qualify for his running event either, which put us with one event to go.”
Enter Tayshawn and the 300 meter hurdles. “Despite winning the first of two preliminary races, he ended up being the third fastest qualifier after the second preliminary race produced much faster times. Tayshawn ended up in lane three for the finals on Saturday,” said Coach Pennamon, “This would be a very familiar lane for Tayshawn because he had to compete in lane three at the State Sectionals Qualifiers just a week prior. This experience led to him being very familiar with hurdling out of lane three, however, no one foresaw it being a rainy, windy and cold day to run.” (The weather in Rome was atrocious last weekend for track and field events).
“This gave him a few early jitters, but he had run in the cold windy conditions before. He also remembered that he and his teammate worked out with the hurdles in the rain leading up to the region championships. Given this experience, he knew how to run in the rain while jumping hurdles from practice. Tayshawn leaned on that experience and knowledge, and he didn’t go all out in the preliminaries as opposed to the other two boys (from Vidalia and Social Circle). They had put up some pretty fast times, and the feeling was that they might have done what he (Tayshawn) did his freshman year, and gave to much energy in the preliminaries and did not have anything left for the finals.”
Coach Pennamon also provided a play-by-play of Tayshawn’s exciting 38 second run in Rome, and some insight to his preparation for such a historic event. “Once Tayshawn went over to the short track at Barron Stadium, Maddox Track, to warmup he dialed in. He was told to warmup in his running shoes to keep his spikes as dry as possible before the race and to keep his sweats on until the last possible moment to keep his legs warm. He was walked from the 100’ start across the field for his race and he did a few more stretches before entering the blocks.”
“At the gun he got semi-hard to the first hurdle and made up the stagger on lane four by the third hurdle. At that point he surpassed the lane four opponent from Social Circle, and set his eyes on lane five, the leader in the race thus far, Jaydyn Young from Vidalia. Tayshawn and Young went over hurdles four and five at the same time, but as they approached hurdle six Tayshawn started to pull away and with every step the lead got bigger. With only two hurdles left, Tayshawn had the race in hand, barring no falls or hitting a hurdle, none of that happened and Tayshawn jogged through the finish line with an almost 2 second win with a time of 38.94 seconds with second place finishing in 40.30 seconds.”
Coach Pennamon also wanted to express that “I couldn’t be more proud of Tayshawn. He had a rough year losing twice, one of those being at the Region Championship by a mere two hundredths of a second. He had not wanted to practice like he should all season leading up to Sectionals, but started to dial it in on the week leading in to Sectionals, and he really went hard the first two days of the week leading into the State Championships. He could have easily gone mid 37 seconds if he would have kept his foot on the gas over the last 2 hurdles but with the gap being so big there was no reason to risk a slip or a fall going over a hurdle. Secure the victory and reclaim your crown as one of the State’s best 300 hurdlers, and that’s what he did!”
Congratulations Tayshawn on the victory, and also on being back to back champion in Class A, Division 1. Tayshawn has one more year of high school, so he can become a three-time champion next spring!