This past weekend at the 2013 SWAC indoor Track Championship in Birmingham, Ala., the Jackson State Tigers men's track team ended the meet in fourth place, but they managed to provide some fireworks along the way.
Jackson State's Bentrell McGee won the 60-meter hurdles, but missed out on breaking his own record in the event. McGee finished with a time of 7.92 seconds, barely missing on his record of 7.91 seconds.
B.J. Lee broke his own 60-meter record as he dueled with fellow teammate and South African Olympian Anaso Jobodwana at the finish line. Both Lee and Jobodwana crossed the finish line ahead of Lee's former record of 6.71 seconds. At first, officials were not sure which runner broke the line first. Officials went to the videotape to determine that Lee edged out Jobodwana, finishing in 6.66.654 seconds. Jobodwana finished in 6.66.659 seconds.
Jobodwana was not finished at the meet, however. The South African sprinter put his stamp on the SWAC record books by crushing his previous record of 21.15 seconds in the 200-meter dash. Jobodwana finished ahead of teammate Tamarick Johnson with a time of 20.75 seconds. Johnson finished with a time of 21.37 seconds.
Tamarick Johnson stole the show in the meet's final event: the 4x400 relay. Johnson refused to let the Tigers finish in any place other than first in the event.
Texas Southern had what seemed like a comfortable lead going into the final relay exchange. Johnson refused to concede the event to TSU's Jeff Lacroix anchor leg and set about catching the other sprinter.
Johnson cut the gap between him and Lacroix in the first 200 meters. The two men fought for the relay title over the final 200 meters. Lacroix constantly checked over his shoulder as Johnson caught him with 60 meters left. The two runners sprinted to the end of the race side by side.
Just as Lacroix was stretching to cross the line to win the event, Johnson laid out head first for the finish line. Johnson's launch at the end of the race gave the Tigers (3:14.43) the victory over TSU (3:14.47).
Johnson finished with a bandaged hand from his leap to the finish, but displayed one of the best never-say-never moments in sports. Joining Johnson on the JSU relay team was leadoff leg Jeremy Wilson, second leg Jamie McIntosh and third leg Antoine Guice.
The Jackson State women track team finished in seventh place at the championships.
More like this story
More stories by this author
Support our reporting -- Follow the MFP.
