MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
That big smile Dan Boggan has been wearing for weeks says it all. Boggan and his J.W. Sexton High School boys track team kept the vow they made one year ago by winning the boys division 2 state championship. And they did it in convincing fashion, scoring 70 points to clearly outdistance runner-up Ypsilanti who tallied 49.

The Big Reds set one meet record, won four individual titles and one relay to wipe out the bitter taste of a near miss in the 2004 meet. Boggan’s crew let a state championship slip through their fingers in 2004 when they dropped the baton in the 400 yard relay. They vowed then and there to win it all this season.

Jon Allen leaped 23ft. 31/4 to set a meet record in the long jump; Jon Boles won the shot put and Tymel Dodd won both the 110 high and 300 low hurdles to lead the way. The Reds team of Bryan Merrill, Dodd, Bryan Tucker and Jacob Wyatt combined to win the 4x400 relay, with Wyatt holding off a strong Ypsilanti challenge in the anchor leg. The Reds showed solid depth in the relay events, placing second in the 4x200, fourth in the 4x100, and sixth in the 4x800 relay events.

Sexton ran its relays without the help of sprinter, Kevin Lawson. Lawson, a senior who was expected to challenge for individual titles in the 100 and 200 meter dashes and play an important role on a pair of sprint relays, sprained a tendon in a premiminary race and had to scratch. He provided the most dramatic and inspirational performance of the day, however. Having qualified for the finals in the 100 meters prior to his injury, Lawson lined up and jogged the distance to score a single point. His effort typified the determination and effort of the entire Big Red squad.

They had to beat big odds to make their vow a reality. The team was without a track on which to practice for much of the season due to construction on their stadium site. They regained their practice facilities just in time to enable them to sharpen their skills and get ready for the state meet. And the athletes who had been most impacted by the adversity led the way.

Allen saw his long jump distance decline and Dodd made no progress during the weeks without a practice track. “I told them to keep working and the problems they faced would only make winning the championship sweeter,” Boggan said. The smiles on the Sexton campus show just how sweet it is.