BY LEE LUTHER JR.
For the Nelson County Times
The Nelson boys track team made sports history last week by winning the first ever Conference 36 Track & Field championships held at East Rockingham high school in Elkton on May 21.
Govs long distance ace runner James Russell Ballowe continues to be money in the bank for Nelson with double championships in the 1,600 (4:38.77) and the 3,200 (10:17.82).
Shakir Daniel was also a double champion with his long jump effort (20-1.5) and in the 400 (51.47).
Denzell Foster rounded out the double winners for Nelson with a first in the 100 meter dash (11.63) and the 200 meter dash (23.18).
Homer Barnett also won the shot put with a heave of 50-7.
“We kept telling the team to go out there and compete hard. Normally we don’t compete well when we have to compete against teams we are unfamiliar with,” said Nelson coach Kevin Walker. “We emphasized to just trust yourself and compete. Most of the team had never won a team championship team title while they had been in high school.
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“We really wanted them to go out and win. It was a great pleasure seeing the sheer joy on their faces. Boys and girls competed real hard. We had a lot of season bests so we are starting to understand what it takes to be successful. We will be recruiting to increase the number of girls we have. We just don’t have the numbers other teams have on the girl’s side. Once our numbers are up, we will be more competitive as a team.”
The Nelson girls had a pair of conference champions of their own as Romona “Tank “ Bryant captured the 3,200 meter run of 12.41.95 and Faith Huber ran a fast 100, crossing the finish line at 13.21.
