TUPELO - Max Holman wasn't sure he had enough gas in the tank to run a record time in Saturday's 40th annual Daily Journal Relays.

Holman, bidding to break the school record in the 1,600 meters, accomplished his mission on the sun-splashed royal blue track at Tupelo High School. The Tupelo senior covered the distance in 4 minutes, 19 seconds to edge former teammate, Rob Ellis, who held the previous record of 4:20.

"About 250, 200 yards out I started getting nervous," said Holman, an Ole Miss signee. "I heard my dad (Kevin) whistling like he does at every meet. That made me dig down and give it all I had.

"This feels great. This has been a goal of mine all season. I was two seconds off last season."

Holman missed last year's Journal Relays to participate in the Mobile (Ala.) Meet of Champions.

"I'm very happy I got to run here this year," he said.

Holman later won the 800 meters in a 2:01 clocking, beating teammate Jeff Wilson, who finished in 2:04.

In the team competition, Holman and his Golden Wave teammates won with 175.50 points while Pontotoc took the girls championship with 190 points. The small school boys and girls titles were won by Corinth with 82 girls and 44 boys.

Fine tune time

The meet was a tune-up for the state-qualifying competition in the postseason - division, region, North state - for many of the teams.

"It's a chance to fine tune," Tupelo coach Nathan Hall said earlier in the week. "We want to make sure we have the right people in the right events."

Tupelo will host the North 1A and 6A meet May 8. The same day, Oxford hosts 2A and 5A, Pontotoc 4A and Charleston 3A.

The annual Mississippi High School Activities Association's State Track and Field Meet is scheduled for May 14-15 at Pearl High School.

Foot feeling fine

Oxford's Sam Moffett, running the 3,200 meters for the first time since recovering from a foot stress fracture in the fall, won in 10:23. To win, he sprinted past two other runners on the final lap.

"My coach (Scott Kendricks) told me, 'If you're going to go, go now," Moffett said, then smiled. "Coach had told me 10:30 would be a good time today."

Moffett, a senior, is looking to go sub-10 minutes prior to the state meet.

"Pearl's got a really good runner who's sub-10," he said. "I've got to do a lot of speed work before the state meet."

In the spotlight

- Tupelo's 4x100 and 4x200 relay units of Samantha McAlister, Georgia Russell, Erin Tucker and Zierra Long won both events in 50.02 seconds and 1:50.25.

- Ripley's Page Rowland won the 3,200 meters in 12:46 to edge Tupelo's Madison Nash and Kacie Harris.

- Corinth's Lauren Foropoulos won the 1,600 meters in 5:27 to beat rivals Whitney Ray of Pontotoc, 5:34, and Katherine Steinman of Tupelo, 5:47. Foropoulos also won the 800 meters in 2:25.

- Pontotoc's Ebony Brinker won the triple jump with a leap of 36-feet, 4.5 inches. She won the 4A state title last year with a 38-2.50.

- Tupelo's Mackenzie Tyler captured the boys 110-meter hurdles in 15.71 to edge Pontotoc's Jordan Hall at 15.76. In the 300 hurdles, Tupelo's David Calmes won in 40.69.

- Tupelo's Matt McIntosh, 11.23 seconds, and Pontotoc's Rhandi Ball, 12.77, were the 100-meter dash winners. McIntosh also won the 200 in 22.71.

- Oxford Sam Kendricks beat Tupelo's Hal Boerner in the pole vault. Kendricks won with a 14-06 leap while Boerner cleared the bar at 14-even.

Read more and see photos from the meet in Sunday's NEMS Daily Journal newspaper.