"I'm proud to be a Redbug and excited to see the program continue to grow."
That is what Fordyce head track and field coach Anthony Hammons said a year ago after his boys won the first state track and field championship in school history. After successfully defending their 2A Arkansas State Outdoor Championship on Wednesday evening, Hammons may need to start looking into purchasing a bigger trophy case.
The second-time-around felt the same for Hammonds.
"To me, it was the exact same," Hammonds said of winning the schools' second straight championship. "They were not content. They were still hungry. That's what made me the happiest. They were fighting and scrapping to qualify as many as we could."
That effort was evident in the 400 meters where the Redbugs had four sprinters who scored.
This year, it wasn't even close as Fordyce scored 128 points, well over twice as many as runner-up Ozark Catholic (53 points).
"I did the virtual meet, and used chatgpt to score the meet," Coach Hammonds said. "I had us winning, but I did not have us winning by that much."
Junior Jordan Rainey, who was the high point award winner at the District 8-2A Meet two weeks ago, was up to his old tricks on Wednesday. Rainey won the triple jump (41-9.5) and finished as the runner-up in the long jump (19-7.5).
For good measure, Rainey ran legs on Fordyce's winning 4x200 team (1:36.16) and a 4x400 relay which finished third with a time of 3:43.85.
Other winners for Fordyce included senior Jamarcus Cranford, who won the 100 meter (11.33) and led the Redbugs' winning 4x100 meter relay which won with a time of 43.64.
Sophomore Omarion Allen won the 800 meters with a time of 2:05.51 and finished second in the 400 meters (53.32).
Fordyce scored 10 points in the 110 hurdles. Sophomore Tristan Allen finished second (17.36) and Damarion Mitchell (18.50) was able to pick up a couple of points.
Junior Jamartez Stroud came up big for the Redbugs. He finished second in the 200 meters (23.66). He added three points in the high jump with a sixth place finish after clearing 5-8.
While several Redbugs stepped up on the big stage, it was Omarion Allen's performance-winning the 800 meters with little recovery time which Hammonds mentioned over the phone as the Redbugs celebrated at Burger King.
"It's what they wanted," Hammonds said.
Hammonds is hopeful that the success of the program over the last couple of years will add fuel to the fire of improving the track and field facilities and bringing back the Redbug Relays, which was a staple of high school track and field in South Arkansas back in the day.
"We are bringing track back to Fordyce," Hammonds said.
On the girls side, Quitman (108) held off Ozark Catholic (103) by five points. It came down to the final event--the 4x400 meter relay. Quitman (4:26.44) was able to take the win and Ozark Catholic (4:26.67) finished second.
Junior Madilyn Varvil led the Bulldogs. Varvil won the high jump (4-10) and pole vault (9-6). She finished third in the long jump (16-0.75) and sixth in the 400 meters (1:06.49).
