Vicksburg’s Palmer advances to 200 meter semifinals at AAU Junior Olympics

Published 8:47 pm Monday, July 29, 2024

One Vicksburg sprinter zoomed through their first test at the AAU Junior Olympics track and field competition, but another will have to wait.

Dwight Palmer, a junior at Warren Central, posted a time of 22.21 seconds to advance to the semifinals of the 200 meter dash in the boys’ 15-16-year-olds’ division.

Palmer’s won his heat by .31 seconds. His time was the sixth-fastest among 99 runners in his age division. The top qualifier was Kendrick Jones, Jr., of Temple, Texas, with a time of 21.37 seconds.

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The top 24 runners in each age division advanced to Wednesday’s semifinal round. The top eight from those heats will move on to the finals on Friday.

While Palmer advanced, Adria Burrell will have to wait. She was scheduled to compete in the 200 meters in the girls’ 17-18-year-olds’ division, but bad weather postponed that competition until Wednesday. The delay will set up a busier than anticipated schedule for the Warren Central junior.

Burrell will run the 100 meters on Tuesday, and then could have to run in both the quarterfinals and semifinals of the 200 on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, recent Warren Central graduate Jonathan Henderson will compete in the boys’ 17-18-year-olds’ high jump. Henderson won the 2023 MHSAA Class 6A championship in the event and has signed with South Alabama.