STATE TRACK Harding's 4x400 relay team eighth

The Raiders' Treymayne Warfield placed sixth in the 400 in the Division I track finals Saturday.
By BRIAN RICHESSON
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
DAYTON -- Tjawonkher Davis was thrown into an unfamiliar role in the biggest meet of the season.
With Travis Stanford absent and Rob Massucci not feeling well, Davis, a Warren Harding High junior, took over the opening leg of the 4x400 relay Saturday in the Division I track and field meet at Welcome Stadium.
"I haven't run it in a while," Davis said of the 400. "It was really hard."
In the afternoon heat, the Raiders finished eighth in the relay with a time of 3 minutes, 22.08 seconds.
"I think we could have done better," said Mike Simpson, who ran the second leg. "As a matter of fact, I know we could have done better."
Antwaun Molden ran the third leg and Treymayne Warfield anchored the relay.
Two runners out
Stanford, scheduled to run in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays, missed the meet to take a standardized test, while Massucci wasn't feeling well enough to run in the second relay Saturday.
Massucci had run in the 4x100 and 4x400 semifinals Friday and the 4x100 finals Saturday, in which the Raiders also finished eighth (43.04).
"We're not mad" because of the lineup change, "but we had to do what we had to do," Davis said.
In stepped Davis in the 4x400. At first, however, he wasn't impressed with the idea.
"After I ran the 4x100, I didn't want to do it [the 4x400]," Davis said. "But I thought I was being selfish. It's for my team, so I said I'd do it. They had enough trust in me."
Competing in the 4x100 relay for the Raiders were Massucci, Simpson, Richard Davis and Tjawonkher Davis.
A junior, Warfield was the lone Raider qualifying individually for Saturday's finals. He finished sixth in the 400 (49.25).
"I woke up this morning, and I was just happy," Warfield said. "We were talking about [our races] last night at dinner, just to get out and go hard."
Warfield started well in the race, but he wasn't able to make a serious move at the 200 mark.