HUMBOLDT — Austin Deer and Savanna Puckett pulled off the sweep of the two premier sprinting events at the Crest Invitational in Humboldt on Thursday. Each Marmaton Valley sprinter won the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
Deer has been dominant on the track this season. He has already set the school record in the 100 meters and is nearing another school record in the 200. On Thursday, he ran a 11.02 in the 100 and 23.09 in the 200.
“I’ve been feeling good running,” Deer said. “As long as I keep working in practice, I’ll be fine.”
Deer’s coaches say they can notice a difference this season in the way Deer approaches his business on the track.
“We talked before the season started that he has to be more focused and in tune with our running this year,” coach Steve Smith said. “He agreed that as his goal and he’s been working on it every day.”
Puckett — just a freshman — has quickly made her presence known as one of the area’s top female track athletes.
“Puckett is doing what she has to do,” Smith said.
She won the 100-meters with a time of 13.12 seconds — just beating Southern Coffey County’s Adina Ratzlaff’s 13.15 — and then followed that up with a win in the 200-meters with a time of 27.2.
Puckett also finished second in the 100-meter hurdles and her coaches are confident that even bigger things are yet to come for their talented freshman.
Brady Newman also picked up a first-place finish for Marmaton Valley in the high jump by clearing 6-foot, but Smith knows he is capable of more.
“He had higher goals than that,” Smith said. “He has lofty goals.”
HUMBOLDT
Humboldt’s boy’s track team is rounding into form at the perfect time for coach Eric Carlson. They took the boys’ championship at the Crest Invitational.
“We had a really good day,” coach Eric Carlson said.
Like many track coaches, he preaches that the most important part of the regular season is getting ready for the postseason.
