Ozens Brannon Going Away Party...

[ozens fastest@1906]

April 15, 2010

A'Lexus wins 4A 'going away'
Tom Halliburton
The Port Arthur News

BEAUMONT —  BEAUMONT -- A'Lexus Brannon invited a few Beaumonters to her 'going away' party Thursday at the running finals of the District 20-4A track and field championships.

  What a terrific high school career the Ozen senior and Port Arthur native is continuing to have.

  A'Lexus simply was so arrogant around the house for a couple of days that younger sister Dominique found it distasteful.

  Dominique also wished A'Lexus had taken much more time getting out of the blocks in the 100-meter hurdles.

  The nation's leader in two events guided Ozen's Lady Panthers to gold medals in all five of her events as the south Beaumont gang easily rolled to a girls team title with 219 points.

  Central outpointed Nederland in the boys division 167-151 but coach Chris Theriot's Bulldogs delivered another dazzling performance in claiming gold medals in three individual running events.

  This sunny, wind-swept occasion proved to be the finest hour ever for Nederland senior Aaron Arceneaux, whose junior track days were phenomenal in Mid- and South County, but his struggles have been many at the high school level.

  Arceneaux kept persisting with the heart of champion and wore the biggest smile after toughing out a 22.64 to win the boys 100-meter dash.

  A'Lexus Brannon even embraced Arceneaux after his heart-warming win which had followed a series of near-misses, disappointments and injuries.

  "This is very special," the 18-year-old Arceneaux said. "That was nothing but God (pulling him through)... I was tired. All I could do was pray and He gave me the strength to go on. He just wanted to make sure that I was leaning on His word."

  Arceneaux did not get out of the blocks especially well. He found himself chasing Lumberton's Kyler Keith and Beaumont Central's Keenan Holman around the curve. Then it was time for Arceneaux to summon the strength in the final 80 meters. It was there when well-meaning Aaron needed it.

  Plenty of freshmen filled this day along with old-timers Aaron and A'Lexus. Ozen has an incredible 1-2 freshman punch in Bealoved Brown and Dominique Brannon. Nederland has another never-say-die distance man on the ninth-grade horizon named Layne Smith.

  Besides finishing a hurdle behind her older sister, Dominique won the 300-meter hurdles and ran the anchor in the 1,600-meter relay. Dominique has added about three inches of height since last summer and she appeared to be a bit too high when clearing some of the hurdles. That's OK, though. She has plenty of time to work on her form and gain more strength to her 6-0 frame.

  Form did not seem a problem for Brown, who totally blew away the field in both sprint races. The Ozen freshman ran the 100 in 12.07 and the 25.00.

  The greatest catastrophe of the day for a freshman almost happened on the first lap of the boys mile when lanky Nederland rookie Smith came terribly close to losing his balance completely and landing on Alex Durley Stadium's extremely nice all-weather track.

  Smith won the half-mile in 2:02.02 -- almost three seconds ahead of Dogs' teammate Kevin Molina. Smith looked out of gas early in the final lap but roared from behind to win the mile in 4:38.95 followed by teammates Trevor Martin (4:39.00) and Trent Fulk (4:40.93).

  "I definitely wanted to be the district champion," the 15-year-old Smith said. "My teammates gave me a great race... I guess I just got a little tripped up on my own feet."

  Another Nederland freshman champ in the half-mile, Bailey Perryman, delivered her season's most impressive work when it counted. Perryman found that extra gear in the home stretch for a 2:27.40.

  Port Neches-Groves came painfully close to a gold medal in the intermediate hurdles. The thing which probably worked against senior Tyler Wright more than anything was his lane assignment. By running a prelim time of 42.27 on Monday, the Indians' hurdler had to operate out of lane 7. Central's Jacoby Hale overtook Tyler in just the last five meters to win, 40.17 to 40.61.

  But the good thing about it is every event top three finishers will have another chance to compete May 3-4 at the 4A regionals in Huntsville.

District 20-4A championships

  BEAUMONT -- Here are Thursday's final results from the District 20-4A track and field championships at West Brook's Alex Durley Stadium.

  Top three places advance to regionals

  GIRLS DIVISION 



  400-meter relay: 1. Ozen (A'Lexus Brannon, Jameka Fontenot, Asia Booker, Bealoved Brown) 47.57; 2. Livingston 49.99; 3. Central 50.53; 4. Nederland 51.80; 5. Vidor 53.56.

  800 meter run: 1. Bailey Perryman, Nederland, 2:27.40; 2. Ravoshia Whaley, Central, 2:28.46; 3. Morgan Miller, Nederland, 2:30.87; 4. Bethany Oswalt, Livingston, 2:32.93; 5. Kenya Francis, Ozen, 2:34.48; 6. Megan Ware, PNG, 2:39.46.

  100-meter hurdles: 1. A'Lexus Brannon, Ozen, 13.78; 2. Dominique Brannon, Ozen, 15.48; 3. Destyni Jubert, Central, 16.44; 4. Bethany Cherry, Nederland, 17.11; 5. Destiny Arteaga, LCM, 17.56; 6. Robicheaux, Vidor. 18.03.

  100 meter dash: 1. Bealoved Brown, Ozen, 12.07; 2. Caitlin McKnight, Livingston, 12.60; 3. Jameka Fontenot, Ozen, 12.76; 4. Ashley Lewis, Livingston, 12.78; 5. Asia Booker, Ozen, 12.89; 6. Kileen Felix, PNG, 12.99.

  800-meter relay: 1. Ozen (A'Lexus Brannon, Jawanna Lamb, Asia Booker, Robyn Hancock) 1:43.27; 2. Vidor 1:51.66; 3. Nederland 1:53.10; 4. PNG 1:54.31; 5. LCM 1:58.87; 6. Livingston 1:59.32.

  400 meter dash: 1. Jawanna Lamb, Ozen, 60.25; 2. Ravoshia Whaley, Central, 60.65; 3. Kenya Francis, Ozen, 61.01; 4. Daylyn Harris, Livingston, 63.27; 5. Christian Foster, Ozen, 64.80; 6. Britten Fawcett, Vidor, 65.42.

  300-meter hurdles: 1. Dominique Brannon, Ozen, 45.92; 2. Destyni Jubert, Central, 48.37; 3. Robicheaux, Vidor, 49.03; 4. Bethany Cherry, Nederland, 50.57; 5. Tatyana Nickson, Livingston, 50.61; 6. Shelby Rinehart, Nederland, 52.16

  200 meter dash: 1. Bealoved Brown, Ozen, 25.00; 2. Robyn Hancock, Ozen, 25.89; 3. Ra'Nell Lee, Central, 25.91; 4. Daylyn Harris, Livingston, 27.13; 5. Caitlin McKnight, Livingston, 27.20; 6. Ashley Lewis, Livingston, 27.77.

  1,600 meter run: 1. Crystal Brindle, Lumberton, 5:37.36; 2. Kimberli Clark, Ozen, 5:54.31; 3. Taylor Martin, Nederland, 5:55.35; 4. Trista Townley, Vidor, 5:55.48; 5. Megan Ware, PNG, 6:01.58; 6. Cailyn Poulter, PNG, 6:08.92.

  1,600-meter relay: 1. Ozen (Kenya Francis, Jawanna Lamb, Robyn Hancock, Dominique Brannon) 4:04.33; 2. Central 4:12.12; 3. Nederland 4:16.86; 4. Vidor 4:22.77; 5. PN-G 4:26.85; 6. Livingston 4:39.92.

  Point standings: 1. Ozen 219; 2. Nederland 101; 3. Central 93; 4. Livingston 65; 5. Vidor 52; 6. PNG 45; 7. Lumberton 34; 8. LC-M 11.

  BOYS DIVISION

  400-meter relay: 1. Central (Keith O'Neal, Keenan Holman, Damon Heard, Quinton Cantue) 42.88; 2. LC-M 43.26; 3. Livingston 44.16; 4. Nederland 44.16; 5. Ozen 44.32; 6. Lumberton 44.78.

  800 meter run: 1. Layne Smith, Nederland, 2:02.02; 2. Kevin Molina, Nederland, 2:04.98; 3. Cody Gutierrez, Lumberton, 2:05.18; 4. Brandon Mallett, Ozen, 2:05.39; 5. Aaron Lilly, LC-M, 2:08.55; 6. Domingo Flores, Nederland, 2:08.68.

  110-meter hurdles: 1. Jacoby Hale, Central, 14.88; 2. Chevoski Collins, Livingston, 15.08; 3. Andre Jennings, Central, 15.13; 4. Edwin Nelson, Nederland, 15.64; 5. Garrett Bourque, Lumberton, 16.16; 6. Garrett Lindsey, Lumberton, 16.30.

  100 meter dash: 1. Quinton Cantue, Central, 10.93; 2. Keith O'Neal, Central 10.94; 3. Aaron Arceneaux, Nederland, 10.95; 4. Alex Sezar, LC-M, 11.08; 5. Jeremy Chauvin, LC-M, 11.16; 6. Brennan Jackson, Central, 11.31.

  800-meter relay: 1. Central (Keith O'Neal, Keenan Holman, Gene Cross, Quinton Cantue) 1:30.71; 2. Nederland 1:30.92; 3. LC-M 1:32.00; 4. Livingston 1:33.47; 5. Lumberton 1:33.68; 6. Ozen 1:34.47.

  400 meter dash: 1. Joseph Richards, Ozen, 50.14; 2. Scott Poole, Lumberton, 50.44; 3. Kyler Keith, Lumberton, 50.84; 4. Shawn Lewis, Ozen, 50.94; 5. Joshua Landry, Central, 52.62; 6. Anfernee Wilson, Livingston, 54.56.

  300-meter hurdles: 1. Jacoby Hale, Central, 40.17; 2. Tyler Wright, PN-G, 40.61; 3. Josh Richards, Vidor, 40.68; 4. Chevoski Collins, Livingston, 41.03; 5. Edwin Nelson, Nederland, 41.57; 6. Austin Wyble, Nederland, 41.92.

  200 meter dash: 1. Aaron Arceneaux, Nederland, 22.64; 2. Keenan Holman, Central, 22.99; 3. Kyler Keith, Lumberton, 23.12; 4. Elliot Brown, Central, 23.18; 5. Chris Wright, Livingston, 23.44; 6. Aldric Jones, LC-M, 23.86.

  1,600 meter run: 1. Layne Smith, Nederland, 4:38.95; 2. Trevor Martin, Nederland, 4:39.00; 3. Trent Fulk, Nederland, 4:40.93; 4. Aaron Lilly, LC-M, 4:46.67; 5. Casey Viator, LC-M, 5:03.37; 6. Jared Gregory, Lumberton, 5:04.43.

  1,600-meter relay: 1. Ozen (Brandon Mallett, Joseph Richards, Shawn Lewis, Jacoby Bellard) 3:27.66; 2. Central 3:29.50; 3. Nederland 3:31.09; 4. Lumberton 3:32.42; 5. Livingston 3:37.40; 6. PNG 3:37.93.

  Point standings: 1. Central 167; 2. Nederland 151; 3. LC-M 69; 4. Lumberton 66; 5. Livingston 65; 6. Ozen 50; 7. PNG 42; 8. Vidor 7.

[Baller3]

Great Article, Good job by Tom Halliburton PA News!  A'Lexus should have ran the open sprints her lead off legs on the 4x1 and 4x2 were awesome both races were over by the first exchange!!!  Dominique Brannon is a future Dominator.... very impressive!!!