Dorsey High school is home to some of the fastest runners in the city and the state. The Dons track and field team reached the state championships this season. The boys 4×400 relay team came in fourth in the state final with a record of 3:18.19 minutes. The boys 4×100 relay squad also reached the state finals, coming in at 8th place with 41.88 seconds.
Junior Dakari Douglas competed in the state preliminary competition for the 110m and 300m hurdles. Freshmen Miracle Johnson also qualified for the state preliminaries for shot put after making third place at the City Section Championship.
Senior Lafayette Dorsey competed in the long jump preliminaries after coming in second place at the city finals and senior Tommy Gross competed in the high jump preliminaries.
The Dons had a triumphant presence in the city finals. The boys 4x100m relay squad came in first place after crossing the finish line in 42.01 seconds. Dorsey also came in first place in the boys 4x400m with a record of 3:21.50 minutes.
Four Dorsey sprinters competed in the boys 110m hurdles, Douglas came in second place at 14.99 seconds. Senior Victor Williams came in fourth at 15.15 seconds.
Junior Mark Nunez came in second place for the boys 200m with a 22.31 record. Amir Karneh of Cleveland High School took first place.
Nunez was one of the three Dons that took the top three spots in the 400m dash. He scored first place at 48.79 seconds. In second place was senior Jaylin Stamps with a 49.02 record and junior Tyler Rambo came in third with a 49.66 record.
Stamps comes from a family of track and field runners, his grandfather coached for the L.A. Jets track club. Stamps received advice from his aunt who got a full scholarship to Fresno State.
“She told me when you come out here (the track), just keep an open mind, do your best and try to beat everyone,” he said.
In the Freshmen/Sophomore division, Dorsey came in first in the boys 4x100m relay. For Varsity, senior Jermela Booker earned seventh place in the 300m hurdles getting a 47.99 in the finals.
“This is my first year doing hurdles,” Booker said. “Coach Tilly, he worked with me over the summertime and the beginning of the school year.”
In the high jump meet, senior Tommy Gross came in first place. For Shot Put, senior Adebayo Soremekun made first place.
The Dons also took first, second, and eighth place in the boys triple jump finals with senior Jojo Lambey at first place and Junior Arrum Palacio at second. Palacio mentioned how working on his core is part of his workout plan.
“When you have a stronger ab structure, you can hold your phases longer, therefore increases you distance,” Palacio said.
Los Angeles City Section schools like Carson and View Park challenged the Dons during championships.
“The competition is really hard,” sophomore Toni Carter said. “You have to really run your best in order to really make it.”
Carter ran the varsity 400m dash and took fifth place in the City Section final, passing the finish line in 1:00.02 minutes.
Carter was a member of the 4x100m relay squad that made seventh place in the City championship with a 50.31 final record.
Sprint coach Lamarr Kirk focused on giving the Dons speed endurance training. This is his first year as a coach for Dorsey.
“The way we train is to get them to perform at their best,” Kirk said. “We have a lot of potential.”
