July has been heating up and Taylor has stayed busy with sports.
USATF OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS Taylor High School has two alums competing this weekend in track and field as Fred Kerley will compete in the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore. on July 6–9 with Jarvis Anderson in the U20 showcase.
Representing sportswear company ASICS as the defending world champion in the 100meter dash, Kerley will compete at 6:43 p.m. on Saturday, July 8 in the men’s 200-meter firstround event. The semifinals will be at 7:30 p.m. on July 9 with the 200meter finals later that night at 9:30 p.m. Kerley will get a bye in the 100-meter dash for the upcoming 2023 World Athletics Championships held in Hungary during August and will not be running that event in Eugene.
Anderson, a class of 2023 graduate from Taylor who will be competing in both football and track at Stephen F.
Austin State University, will race in Heat 1 of the men’s 110-meter hurdles at 4:45 p.m. on July 7 with the top three times from Heat 1 and Heat 2 (plus the next two fastest times) advancing to the finals. Anderson will also compete in the triple jump on Friday at 5:05 p.m. and again on Saturday at 5:24 p.m. in the 400-meter hurdles prelims with the final at 5:46 p.m. on Sunday evening.
Due to press deadlines being on Friday, updates on how Kerley and Anderson did in their respective events over the weekend in Eugene will be covered fully in the next edition of the Taylor Press sports section.
RECENT COACHING HIRES Taylor High School athletic director Earven Flowers recently announced three additional assistant coaching hires for the Ducks as Xavier Johnson, Cody Hunt and McKensey Brentham joined the Taylor family.
Johnson played football for Prairie View A&M University for the last four years and was a former football and track standout at Temple High School.
He will be an assistant coach for the Ducks in football, basketball, as well as track and field.
Hunt played basketball collegiately for Gordon College in Massachusetts and was most recently a coach with Brentwood Christian School in Austin. He will be the lead assistant coach for boys’ basketball and middle school cross country.
Brentham was a three-sport standout athlete at Troy High School, she went on to play collegiate softball at the University of Texas Permian Basin in Odessa. She is coming to Taylor as an assistant coach from Austin McNeil High School and will be an assistant with the Lady Ducks’ softball and volleyball programs.
STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING
The Ducks and Lady Ducks have recently had some time off from strength and conditioning training but are ready to get right back at it over the next three weeks.
Seventh through 12th graders will return to strength and conditioning in the weight room and then at Taylor Stadium this upcoming week on July 11–13.
The boys will go from 7–9 a.m. with the girls training from 8–10 a.m.
They will also have training on July 18–20 and 25–27 this month before seasons get into full swing for football, volleyball and cross country.
Photo courtesy of Earven Flowers
