Oxford High School’s indoor track teams traveled to Birmingham, AL, to compete in the 2016 Magic City Invitational on December 3 to begin their season. The results reflected the hard work that the team put in as the boys place second overall to Winfield and the girls come in third.

The top finishers for the boys in the 1600m were senior Jonathan Tyler with a time of 4:44:16, senior Scott Brown with a time of 4:58:55, and sophomore Malik Lawson with a time of 5:02:56. The top finisher for the girls in the 1600m was junior Raina Woolworth.

The top finishers for the boys in the 400m were senior Kenard Harris with a time of 50.14, sophomore Tyrese Ivy with a time of 51.17, and senior Kyle Rock with a time of 52.74. This was Rock’s first time competing in a 400m.

Harris felt that he could have had a better performance but is understanding of himself and the turnout.

“I felt I could’ve ran a lot faster and won overall,” said Harris, “but you have your days.”

The girls top finishers for the 400m were sophomore Ashley Epps with a time of 1:01:14, senior Swayze Elliott with a time of 1:02:79, and senior Jakicra Dunn with a time of 1:04:24.

In the 60m dash, the boys top finishers were junior Jaquan Webb with a time of 7.02, Devin Rocket with a time of 7.06, and sophomore Tyrese Ivy with a time of 7.22. The girls top finishers in this same event were senior Jakicra Dunn with a time of 8.26, sophomore Ashley Epps with  time of 8.31, and junior NiQuisha Woodard with a time of 8.64. Senior Jared Redding placed fourth in the 60m hurdles with a time of 9.11.

“It was a really good meet overall,” Harris said, “and we’re excited for the rest of the season.”

In the 800m the boys top finishers were senior Kyle Rock with a time of 1:58:93, this was a new indoor record, senior Jonathan Tyler with a time of 2:10:28, and senior Scott Brown with a time of 2:18:93. For the girls in the same event, the top finisher was senior Swayze Elliott with a time of 2:39:82.

“I had never run 400m in a track meet before,” Rock said, “so I was a lot more nervous and concerned with this event rather than the 800.  The day of the meet, I ran the 400m dash first.  I did better than I expected, but I was very worn out and sore the race because I was not used to running a dead sprint like that.  After I had recovered, I realized how much fun the race was, and I’m looking forward to running more 400s in the future and possibly running the 4x400m relay.”