The Picayune Maroon Tide and the Pearl River Central Blue Devils both competed in the Class 5A South State track and field championships this past Saturday at Long Beach High School.  The Maroon Tide had the brother/sister  duo of Jake and Lacey Polderman both win South State titles in individual events while PRC’s Caleb Mitchell captured a distance event title.

The Pearl Pirates swept the men’s and women’s team titles at the meet with 125 and 178 points, respectively.  The Maroon Tide’s men’s team scored 53 points to place sixth while the Blue Devils scored 34 points to place eighth out of 14  teams.  On the women’s side, the Lady Maroon Tide scored 33 points to finish eighth overall and PRC tallied two points.

The top four finishers in each event qualified for the Class 5A state championship meet to be held at Pearl High School on Saturday, May 11th.

Picayune was led by Jake Polderman who won the 1600m run with a time of 4:50.97.  He also placed third in the 800m run to advance in both events.  Todd Smith won the 800m run for the Tide with a time of 2:06.67 while Coren Nixon placed  second in the 100m dash for the Tide.

The Tide’s 4x100m relay team of Doug Cross, Desmond Taylor, Tyler Smith and Russell Whitehead placed fourth to advance while the 4x400m relay team comprised of Polderman, Abram Fletcher, Jaylin Dees and James Smith also placed fourth.

The Lady Maroon Tide had an event winner in Lacey Polderman in the 400m dash  with a time of 1:01.63 while Kiara Bell placed fourth in the discus to advance.

The Blue Devils were led by Caleb Mitchell who won the 3200m run with a time of 10:46.74 and placed second in the 1600m run to advance in both events.

Bryson Penton qualified in two events for the state finals.  Penton was fourth in the 100m dash and third in the 300m hurdles.

Tristan Tate placed third in the 110m hurdles to advance.

The Lady Blue Devils did not have anyone qualify for the state finals.

The Class 5A state finals will be run in conjunction with Classes 1A and 3A on Saturday, May 11th at Pearl High School.  Gates will open at 9am and field events are scheduled to begin at 10am with the pole vault.  Running events  will follow the field events.