GC Track & Field: Ja'Shaun Lloyd, Jaz Newsome lead Tiger teams in Region Meet

Apr. 19—They're back.

Ja'Shaun Lloyd and Jaz Newsome are back and ready to kick down some doors in track & field, and take a couple of giant steps in the Class 5A Region II Track & Field Meet at UTA.

Jaz and Ja'Shaun have been driving, sacrificing and improving all year to get here and now they head a Corsicana contingent that hopes to take the final steps in track & field this weekend in Arlington to reach the 5A State Track & Field Meet in Austin.

They led the Corsicana Tigers and Lady Tigers last spring and this spring and know exactly what's at stake at the Region II Meet at UTA — berths in the State Meet next weekend at the University of Texas at Austin.

The UIL's road to state requires a top four finish in the District and Area Round Meets to advance, but now it takes a top 1-or-2 finish to take the next step to Austin.

Nobody knows that better than Newsome, who made it to UTA and the Region Meet a year ago as a sophomore but fell short of reaching the State Meet in the 400-meter run after winning the race in the District and Area Round Meets.

Jaz is back with a vengeance and a new venue — the long jump.

She has led the Lady Tigers all year and returns to the Region Meet in Arlington after a huge performance in last week's Area Meet, where she had a fourth-place finish in the 400 and a second-place finish in the long jump — where she has improved mightily this season.

She put an exclamation point on qualifying for the Region Meet last week when she broke her own school record with a leap of 18-feet and six inches.

Jaz also anchored the 4x400 relay team of Kiana Lopez-Wilson, Measha Rhinehart and Cassandra Hernandez that earned a berth at the Region Meet with a fourth-place finish (4:00).

Rhinehart, who has also led the Lady Tigers all spring, qualifying for the Region Meet with a second-place finish in the triple jump (37-2) and a fourth-place finish in the 200 (24.4) and she also ran on the 4x400 relay team that earned a Region berth.

She will be the busiest athlete from CHS in Arlington, competing in four events with hopes of making it to her first State Meet.

The Lady Tiger 4x100 team of A'Kevia Weaver, Erika Roughton, Marche' Belmontes and Lopez-Wilson took fourth to qualify for the 5A Region II Meet at UTA.

Lloyd has his own motivation at the Region Meet, where he won the 110- and was second in the 300 hurdles last year as a sophomore to reach Austin, where he took second in the 110-hurdles and sixth in the 300-hurdles last spring in the 5A State Meet last spring as a sophomore.

He simply wants to beat everyone

Lloyd set PRs in both events at the Jesuit Sheaner Relays in Dallas this spring. He ran a 13.85 to win the 110s and won the 300-hurdles in 37.33, scoring 20 team points for the Tigers in an incredibly loaded field of 39 teams in the boys 5A Meet.

"Ja'Shaun is one of the most competitive athletes I've ever coached," said longtime Tiger track & field Coach Wayne Braziel at the time. "No matter what the competition, he is always rising to the occasion. But his work ethic is just as great and I think that's where he has the edge on a lot of other competitors.

"It's been exciting to watch him compete every week and he just continues to get better and better."

Lloyd wants it all this time around and has shown it with tremendous discipline and a determined work ethic that inspires everyone around him.

Lloyd hurdled his way to the Region Meet, winning the 110-hurdles and 300-hurdles in the Area Meet at Lancaster, setting a PR in the 110s, where he beat the field with a 13.28.

His PR in the state meet last spring was 14.09 — now that's determination to eclipse that mark last week.

Lloyd has not lost in the hurdles since the state meet last spring. He also ran the anchor leg on the Tiger 4x400 relay along with Keylon Haynes, Andre Ibanez, and his twin brother, Ty'Shaun Lloyd, that took third at the Area Meet to earn a berth in the Region Meet.

The Lloyd Twins are easy to spot on the track — they're usually out front and they always have that same on their face — unrelenting determination.