By Rocky Higginbotham / Sports Editor

Clarkdale freshman Charmane Tims will be the school’s lone representative in the MHSAA State Track and Field Meet after her qualifying performance in last weekend’s Class 2A South State Meet at St. Andrew’s.

Tims placed third in the girls’ 100m dash with a time of 13.36 seconds and will be joined in the state meet by Newton High’s Tynika Bender, who was fourth at South State with a time of 13.44 seconds.

The top four finishers in each South State event qualified for the MHSAA Class 2A State Meet, which will be held Saturday at Pearl. The Class 3A and 4A state meets are Friday, while 2A will join 5A and 1A on Saturday.

Newton’s girls put up a solid showing in the South State meet, finishing fifth among 28 participating teams with 48 points. Clarkdale was 11th with 12 points and Union 16th with six points.

On the boys’ side, Newton had 20 points and finished ninth, while Philadelphia (16 points) and Union (six points) were 11th and 13th.

The St. Andrew’s girls (143 points) and Hinds AHS boys (175) were South State champs.

Here’s a list of the other area participants who qualified for the State Meet:

• Philadelphia’s Brandon Willis, who was third in the boys’ 100m dash with a time of 11.31 seconds;

• Newton’s 4x200m girls’ relay team of Shaketa Dukes, Ashtin McNichols, Tityanna Pruitt and Ladora Riley, who won a South State title with a time of 1:48.10;

• Newton’s 4x100m girls’ relay team of Tynika Bender, McNichols, Pruitt and Riley, who finished second with a time of 51.12 seconds;

• Newton’s 4x100m boys’ relay team of Dekarrian Beasley, Kevin Harris, Frank Norman and Hakeem Wright, who finished fourth with a time of 45.68 seconds;

• Union’s E.J. Cunningham, who was third in the boys’ 400m dash with a time of 53.56 seconds;

• Newton’s Asa Evans, who placed second in the girls’ 300m hurdles with a time of 49.73 seconds;

• Newton’s Pedrick Keyes, Delarron McKee, Moses Oliphant and Rashad Robinson, who were fourth in the boys’ 4x400m relay with a time of 3:46.80;

• Philly’s Willis, who was fourth in the boys’ long jump with a leap of 19 feet, 11.75 inches;

• Newton’s Brandon Williams, who was third in the boys’ high jump with a leap of 6 feet;

• Newton’s Querinda Beamon, who was second in the girls’ shot put with a heave of 29 feet, 8.5 inches; and

• Philadelphia’s Jimmy Jeffers, who placed fourth in the boys’ shot put with a toss of 39 feet, 1 inch.

Class 3A

Two-time defending state champion and Ole Miss signee Michael Granger of Newton County won his event once again in the Class 3A South State Meet, which was also held at St. Andrew’s.

Granger was clocked in 10.8 seconds in the 100m dash, winning by four-tenths of a second over Nick Griffin of Perry Central. Granger ran a 10.73 in the prelims for seeding.

Choctaw Central’s girls had the highest showing of area teams in the meet, placing ninth out of 28 schools with 19 points. Heidelberg’s girls were 13th with eight points and Newton County 16th with four points.

Newton County’s boys tallied 23 points and finished 10th, while Choctaw Central was 20th with two points.

The Carthage boys (103.5 points) and Pass Christian girls (158.5) were South State champs.

Here’s a rundown of the area qualifiers for the Class 3A State Meet:

• Choctaw Central’s Chenice Ben and Skye Smith, who placed third and fourth in the girls’ 3200m run with times of 13:47.10 and 14:19.96;

• Newton County’s 4x100m boys’ relay team, which was fourth with a time of 43.46 seconds;

• Newton County’s Floyd Graves, who was fourth with a time of 23.26 seconds in the boys’ 200m dash; and

• Choctaw Central’s Laka Andereson, who was second in the girls’ discus throw with a heave of 86 feet, 7 inches.