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Sunday, April 29, 2001
Green leads Bocats with five golds
Refugio Boys take first place in team totals at Region IV-2A tourney
By George Vondracek
Caller-Times
SAN MARCOS - Long ago, when Jamar Green wasn't making a glitch on the athletic radar at Refugio High School, George Harris pointed out something to the then 13-year-old freshman.
   "I told him he had no idea of what his potential could be,'' said Harris, the longtime Refugio AD and football coach who has since moved on to Gregory-Portland.
   Now, everyone knows.
   Green ran and jumped his way into the permanent Region IV-2A track and field lore on Saturday, amassing five gold medals in helping the Bobcats to yet another regional championship at Bobcat Stadium.
   Besides the long jump title he won with one jump on Friday, the Refugio senior claimed gold in the triple jump and 300-meter intermediate hurdles and ran on the winning 400 and 1,600 relays.
   "That kid had a helluva day,'' Refugio boys coach David McKinney said.
   Slightly. Green had less than a 15-minute break between the end of the triple jump, which he won on the final effort of 46 feet, 6½ inches, before the start of the 400 relay. He ran the second leg on that, combining with Ray King, Jarvis Lewis and anchor Alex Boyd to a record-setting time of 41.19 seconds.
   A little more than an hour later, he edged Javonie Small of Brookshire Royal by 1 one-hundredths of a second to win the 300 hurdles and capped Refugio's 105½ point effort at regionals by anchoring the 1,600 relay.
   "I'm dead tired,'' Green said. "I was tired before that (1,600 relay) race. My legs were feeling weak and I didn't feel like running.''
   Run he did, even outshining teammate Matt McKinney, who won his fourth straight shot put title with a toss of 61-3¼.
   There hadn't been such a dominating performance since Toya Jones won five golds at the state 2A meet in the early 1990s. While Green said he thought winning five golds was possible, he needed some help in the final relay.
   "At least those three kids gave Jamar enough room where he didn't have to run hard on the anchor,'' David McKinney said.
   Matt McKinney, who also won the discus on Friday, was 8 inches off the regional shot record he set last year. But winning eight golds in eight regional field events is hard to top.
   The Bobcats couldn't complete the sweep of boys and girls weight events, however, as Skidmore-Tynan's Thomas Carriger placed second for the second straight year. Carriger's toss of 56-8½ bested Refugio's Dave Scott by nearly two feet.
   Refugio's girls missed out on their second straight team title, thanks to a deeper San Antonio Cole squad, which beat the Lady Bobcats, 89-52. But Refugio swept the shot put, with Shari Parker and Jayme Ganceras placing 1-2. Ganceras also was second to freshman teammate Mallory Adams in the discus on Friday.
   Skidmore-Tynan's Rene Gutierrez was the area's other lone gold medalist, although two other girls earned berths Saturday at the state meet. Port Aransas' Lauren Williams, who failed to defend her title in the 800, earned a berth at state with a late lunge to finish second in the 200. Visibly upset after Little River Academy's Stacey Stewart broke the 800 record Williams had set last year, the Lady Marlins' senior said she had to focus on her last chance.
   "It was still there in the back of my mind, but I had to put a block on if I had a chance to get to state,'' Williams said.
   Woodsboro's Desiree Lozano also will be heading to Austin after a second-place finish in the 300 hurdles.

Contact George Vondracek at 886-3731 or vondracekg@caller.com

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