On Track for Gold: Men’s Track and Field Takes the Cake

Jordan Men's Track and Field team won its first state title on May 20. Multiple Jordan athletes placed first in their events: Jaleel Griffin in the 110 hurdles, Xavier Perkins in shot put, and Chase Hunter in the high jump. The team also had several second and third place finishes.

Jalen Diggs, a junior, described the emotions of the athletes when they found out they’d won, saying that their adrenaline was high and they were jumping up and down. This was a huge win for the Jordan team, and Jalen said before winning, “we felt kind of defeated at first like it’s pretty disappointing,” but after “the whole atmosphere kind of changed and lightened up,” and the team was proud of all they’d been able to achieve.

Jordan seized the win at the state meet

Leading up to the meet the Jordan track team was just as focused, pushing harder in the workouts and competing against their teammates instead of running alongside them. Jalen also shared that he thinks “it’s only up from here” for the team because there are a lot of juniors on the team, so most of the athletes will be around next year. New, skilled athletes will also come in and join the team, so the program will continue to grow and improve, hopefully leading to a second state championship for the Jordan track team.

With the excitement of winning the championship however, there was also a great deal of surprise among coaches and student athletes. Coach James Carter admitted, “We were honestly surprised more than anything.” Carter described how the Jordan team had not been expecting another team to be disqualified due to a celebration penalty, and were prepared to place second, so they had not even considered the possibility of placing first as the meet came to an end.