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Savannah State University Relays Track and Field event against various schools, Saturday, Mar. 9, 2019, at T.A. Wright Stadium in Savannah, Ga. (SSU Photo/Stephen B. Morton)
SSU Photo/Stephen B. Morton

FEATURE: Track Tigers Ready For A Good Season

| By: By Donald Heath
Editor's Note: This feature story is the first in a series we will be premiering on Friday's. The Friday Feature will first take a look at all of our spring teams as they kick off their 2022 season. Email Assistant Athletics Director Joshua Peacock at peacockj@savannahstate.edu with any questions or comments.
 
 
SAVANNAH, Ga.—Savannah State University's track and field coach Ted Whitaker says there's plenty of potential in the men and women in his program.

Now, he's in the wait-and-see mode as the Tigers finish the indoors season, then head outside for the outdoors season—opening with the Savannah State Eyeopener on Feb. 26 at Theodore A. Wright Stadium.
 
"I'm looking for a good season," Whitaker said. "A couple of kids, they're not there yet, but I think they can (be competitive). We're just waiting to see them pop out."

Whitaker can be a good judge of talent because, at 78 years old, he's "been there, done that" longer than people have been saying the phrase "been there, done that."

Whitaker has been involved in athletics for 58 years – the last 22 running the Tiger men's and women's cross country teams along with the men's and women's track and field teams.

This season, he has 10 women and 18 men on the respective rosters.
 
"I think we're going to see some very good individual performances," he said. "With the men, that can translate to a high team finish."
 
The SSU women will be led by distance runner Kayla Chance. The Jenkins High School graduate was the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) cross country champion in the fall and was named the 2021 SIAC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Year.
 
She also qualified to run in the NCAA Division II Southeast Region Championships.
 
Chance holds school records in the 1500 – running a 4:53.63 at the Gamecock Invitational last spring – along with the school's 5-kilometer cross country mark with an 18:47 at the Queen City Invitational in Charlotte.
 
Chance, the team captain, was also part of the school-record setting distance medley relay foursome that posted a time of 13:37.02 in 2020.
 
"She's the real deal, a 3.7 GPA in the ROTC here. She's a typical student-athlete," Whitaker said.
 
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Kayla Chance [Photo by Stephen B. Morton]

 
High jumper Jahvene Walder will be another Lady Tiger to watch. She earned South All-Region honors from the US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
 
Walder placed first in the high jump at the 2021 Savannah State Eyeopener and the Myrtle Beach Collegiate Challenge and during the season was a scorer in the hurdles.
 
Whitaker is high on jumpers Da'allyah Johnson and Sadrea Mabry. Both compete in the long and triple jumps. Mabry is also a sprinter.
 
Whitaker said a big blow to the women's team was the loss of highly regarded thrower O'Niece Roberts, a freshman who suffered a knee injury in volleyball and will miss the outdoor season. Roberts placed third in the shot put and fifth in the discus at the Georgia high school Class 6A state championships last spring.
 
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Jahvene Walder [Photo by Stephen B. Morton]

 
Depth should help the men's team. Darryl Wiltz, a 110-hurdler, earned South All-Region honors from the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
 
Wiltz won the Lowcountry Celebration Invitational in the 110 hurdles last season and has a personal-best time of 14.60.
 
Nyzaveon Thompson, a walk-on hurdler from Westlake High School, should add depth in the event. 
 
Senior Andre Valcin, a sub-50, 400-meter runner, will captain the team.

Whitaker said throwers Jamaal McKinney and Tony Rountree and middle distance runner Daniel Ogunderu (800) and distance runner Kelvin Jackson (off the cross country team) could make big impacts.
 
And the freshman class will be competitive. Freshman high jumper Daeshaun Logan skied 6-8 to win a Class 2A State Championship at Towers High School last spring.
 
Another freshman, Winfred Porter, will shore up the sprints. Porter ran 10.7 in the 100 and 21.7 in the 200 at Seminole Heights (Fla.) a year ago. During the indoor season, Porter ran a 6.9 in the 60-meter dash.
 
Porter performed well in the season-opening event for the indoor men's team. Porter bested several NCAA Division I runners in the 200m finals with a third place finishing, running a 22.21.
 
Kenneth Cherry, a sophomore, could push Porter in the sprints.
 
"We lost some firepower when we lost a few football players who could have contributed, but I think we can still challenge for top three in the conference," Whitaker said. "We'll have to wait and see." 
 
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Ted Whitaker [Photo by Stephen B. Morton]
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