MC’s Banks is state runner-up

By Taylor Mickelberry
Eagle Correspondent
Published: June 5, 2008

Madison County’s 2008 track season finale featured four competitors in the May 31 state championship meet in Radford. Mountaineer Ryan Banks, who had been competitive all season long, ended up as the state runner-up in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:01.88.

A week earlier, he qualified for the state match in the Region B tournament at Monticello High School with a time of 2:02.42 and a fourth place finish there. At the time, it was a personal record for him, which he then overwrote at the state match.

Also qualifying for states was Jerel Carter, who qualified at regionals with a high jump of 5 feet, 10 inches, which qualified him for fourth place as well. He ended up 23rd in 80 at the state match. L.J. Blakey also qualified at regionals with a discus throw of 137 feet, 3 inches, putting him also at fourth in the regional match. This was also a personal record for him.

At states, he was able to get 17th place there as well. The only female competitor at states did well in regionals as well in the 100-meter dash, hitting fifth place at regionals and also a fourth place finish in the 200-meter dash.  At states, she barely missed competing for the state title as she missed the mark by one place, qualifying as No. 10 in the field of 22.

After a great year for track, Madison Coach Moe Weaver said, “I, as a coach, would like to thank the [Athletic Boosters] for all of their support of all our athletic programs, without the support of the athletic boosters our program would not be what it is today. I would like to challenge all parents and former athletes of my track program as well as other teams to support the boosters. As you can see the boosters are here to support our athletes, so the least that we can do is lend a helping hand to help make our athletic boosters bigger and better. We can see what a few have done, just think if we had everyone pulling together and giving their support, our kids could have the best. So next time you have a child or grandchild that plays high school sports that comes home and their uniform may be dingy, old looking, or even torn, then ask yourself what can ‘I’ do to keep this from happening? The answer is very easy. Support the Athletic Boosters. That’s one way of showing that Madison Blue Pride.”

Look for the Madison track teams next spring as they continue to look for a big year and have certainly built on that this year.