By By Tim Cottrell
For what seemed like the first time all season, Bert Rice did not have to worry about the weather.
The Escambia Academy Cougar track &field team hosted a meet Wednesday afternoon in Canoe on a beautiful sunny day and no one was happier to see it than Rice.
"It was just a beautiful day for a meet," Rice, the Cougars' track coach, said. "It finally wasn't cold or wet or anything like that. There were a lot of good performances out there."
The Cougar boys finished first in the three-team meet featuring Mobile Christian Academy and Sparta Academy. The girls track team finished second to Mobile Christian by four points.
Several Cougars won events during the meet. Jessica Nesmith won girl's shot put; Kaylie Castleberry won the girl's high jump; Andrea Nall won girl's long jump, mile run, two-mile run, and the 300-meter hurdles; and the girl's 4×100 meter relay team, consisting of Katie Smith, Wynne Channell, Morgan Dorriety, and Kaylie Castleberry finished in first place.
Boys winners included Matthew Rice in the triple jump and long jump; Nykia Rolin in the 110-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles; Daulton Murphy in the 100-meter dash and the 300-meter dash; Matt Ash in the mile run and the 800-meter run; Alan Ash in the two-mile run and the boys 4×200 meter relay team of Nykia Rolin, Daulton Murphy, Ryan Woods, and Matthew Rice took first place as well.
"That's what it's all about," Rice said. "You just let a lot of people do a lot of different things and see how it goes. That's one of the beautiful things about track. It's so unique, in that there are throwing events if someone is strong; jumping events for someone who may be a high leaper; and strong runners have events like sprints or more long-distance running. There are many disciplines."
Rice said his group was coming together.
"It was very exciting to watch out there," he said. "The kids were competing very hard and there was a lot of enthusiasm from people watching the races. We're slowly getting better, but we've got a long way to go. I was encouraged by the performances today, though."