Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Curley Wolves Four Points From State Title

The Prescott Curley Wolves opened the 1996 track and field season by finishing as runner-up to the Stamps Yellowjackets, who won that title in 1994, 1995 and 1996.

They were also the defending AA outdoor champions and it seemed no matter how hard the Wolves worked they were destined to stay a few points behind Stamps.

On Saturday night at the AA state meet at Heber Springs, that was the case again as the Wolves fell four points short. They did pick up some nice medals and another large state trophy, but it once again said runner-up.

"As in any highly competitive track and field meet points are scattered and swayed in every event and this affects the point total as well as injuries and bad luck," coach Eddie Jackson said Monday.

"All went to about as expected for the Wolves until John Cornelius, the state's best 800 and 400 man, got sick after winning the 400 (49.7) and didn't have time to recover for the 800," Jackson continued.

"The meet officials dragged out the prelims from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. But once the finals started they never slowed and John's bad luck cost the Wolves 10 points and John a match-up in the meet of Champions this Wednesday that many people were waiting to see in the 800," he said.

Another example of scheduling conflicts had sophomore Jason Morrow coming right off the winning 4x800 relay to vault a starting height of 12 feet and six inches. He and senior vaulter Eddie Fain are accustomed to working up to that height and were not able to score.

Terrell Burton, usually a consistent discus thrower, scratched two of his three prelim throws and didn't make the finals.

Rashad Johnson, junior long jumper, had a great day jumping, but he was knocked from second to third place, a difference of two points by 1/4 inch.

Coach Jackson said it was not just the events Saturday that affected the Wolves' state title chase, but the qualifying meets to be involved in state competition.

Earlier events that could have helped at state were C.D. Flemons missing the high jump qualifying mark by only 1/4 inch and Channing Butler, AA hurdle champion, fell at district leading the 300 hurdles race.

Another devastating blow to the Wolves' chances were Jason Morrow's injury last week. He did manage points in the 1600 and 3200, but if had been well Jackson believes he would have qualified for state and scored valuable points at Heber Springs,

In spite of the "What if's?" and "What could have beens," the Wolves track team that did not feature one pure sprinter, accomplished a great deal. This included the indoor and outdoor state championship, SAU relay champions, Prescott Merchant Relay champs and last week's 7AA title.

The Wolves will compete in the Meet of Champions this week in the 4x800- meter relay, 4x400-meter relay, 120-meter hurdles and 400-meter dash.

Listed below are the scoring performances for the state meet.

Long jump: R. Johnson, third place.

4x800 relay: C. Butler, C.D. Flemons, J. Morrow and J. Cornelius, first place.

4x400 relay: R. Johnson, J. Cornelius, C. Butler and C.D. Flemons, fifth place.

120 hurdles: Channing Butler, first place with 14.6 seconds.

4x200 relay: R. Johnson, J. Morrow, J. McKelvy and C. Butler, fifth place.

400-meter: John Cornelius, first place with 49.7 seconds; and C.D. Flemons, third place.

4x400-meter relay: J. Cornelius, C.D. Flemons, R. Johnson and C. Butler, first place.

Prescott had a total of 56 points.