By Staff
TOP RUNNERS – Ian Hajek, left, and J. Grantham have had a lot of success on the track for Lamar School this spring. Photo by Paula Merritt / The Meridian Star
By Ryan Satcher / staff writer
May 13, 2002
Two runners from Lamar School finished first in the MPSA AAA State Track Meet recently.
J. Grantham finished first in the two-mile race while Ian Hajek won the mile race and the 800 meter run.
Grantham also won the District 3-AAA and South State two mile runs. His best time of the year in the event was a 10:31.
He competed in the 400 meter run and finished fourth in the state and was part of the 3200 meter relay during the state meet.
Grantham is a senior at Lamar and has been running for the Raiders since he was in sixth grade.
The road to the state wins for Hajek was much different. He moved to Mississippi from San Diego last year and is in his first year at Lamar. The year has been successful one for the junior.
Hajek finished first in the mile run and 800 meter run in the state, south state and district for the Raiders. He set a record by running the mile in four minutes and 32.2 seconds. His best in the 800 meter run was two minutes and 4.2 seconds.
The pair helped lead the Raiders to a third place finish in District 3-AAA. The team also finished fourth in the South State and sixth in the State meet. The finishes were very impressive since the team only has about six guys competing. Two of those only do relays making the accomplishments of Grantham and Hajek very important to the success of the team.
The Raiders are expecting the to be good next year with the return of many of their runners. Abdella feels he has a solid distance group coming back next season and the Raiders will have another solid season next year.