PREP TRACK Rayen boys and girls win City titles

Chaney's Latalia Jones won the 100, 200 and 400 races.
By MARK W. MILLER
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Latalia Jones, Breonna Rivers, Alaina Holmes and Antoinette Smith of Chaney High School won the girls 4x400-meter relay in four minutes, 28.8 seconds at the City track and field championships Tuesday at Chaney High stadium.
The Rayen girls won the team title with 63 points. Chaney was second with 55 and Wilson had 26.
The Rayen boys ran away with the crown with 96 points. Chaney was second with 27 and Wilson had 26.
Smith, who anchored Chaney's 4x400 relay team, said, "I like running this because its a lot of fun."
Jones won the 100 (12.3), the 200 (25.7) and the 400 (61.0).
She also ran the first lap of the relay.
"We pretty much work on our exchanges during meets and our exchanges were pretty good today," Jones said.
Rivers said, "We are like sisters. If one of us make a mistake during the relay, the others girls will encourage who ever made the mistake and help in whatever way we can."
Holmes said, "One of our goals is to make it to state and finish at least in the top five."
Chaney also won the 4x200 relay in 1:52.9 seconds.
Beverly best in distances
Jaleesa Beverly of Rayen took first place in the 1600 (7:07.2) and the 3200 (16:33.7).
Tiara Heard of the Tigers won the 100 hurdles (19.1), the 300 hurdles (52.5) and the high jump (4-0).
Wilson's Ciera Beyah, a junior, won the long jump with a distance of 15 feet, 2 inch.
She has competed in the event for three years and one of her goals this season was to win at the City meet that involves the Steel Valley Conference schools that are former members of the City Series.
"I'll try to reach 17 feet this season and hopefully make it to state and meet a lot of interesting people," Beyah said.
Cook gets four firsts
Rayen's Rashawn Cook, a junior, defended his 1600 run in (5:06.5). He also took the 800 (2:15.6) and was a member of the Tigers' winning 4x800 (9:43.3) and 4x400 (3:41.9) relay teams.
He said that he competed in the 800 at last year's AAU National in New Orleans.
"I finished 18th out of 47 runners," Cook said.
Tuesday, it rained early in the meet and again toward the end of the day.
"The weather didn't bother me," Cook said. "I like running when its cooler."
Cook said when it gets around to the district and regional meets, he would like to be running the 800 in 1:57 and the 1600 in 4:30.
Marquinn Davis, a junior, won the shot put event with a toss of 43 feet, 10 1/2 inches.
Weather hampers throws
Davis thought his tosses would have been much better if it hadn't been raining."
"It was somewhat of a problem, but I need to get better on my technique and my goal is to reach 52 feet by the end of the season and make it to state for the first time," Davis said.
Rayen also won the 4x100 relay (54.7) and Dewayne Smith of the Tigers won the long jump (20-0).
miller@vindy.com