BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Union County High School senior Malcolm Odum earned medals in the 200m and 400m at the May 12 Class 2A Track and Field Finals at the University of Florida’s James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track.
Odum is the first UCHS track-and-field athlete to win a state medal since 2009. The Tigers earned two individual medals 13 years ago, with Shamari Highland and Bryan Holmes placing fifth and sixth in the high jump. Union’s boys 4x100m relay team of Holmes, Deven Perry, Koydric Simmons and Najeeb Smith also earned a medal that year with a seventh-place finish.
Medals are awarded for top-eight finishes.
In the 200m, Odum ran a time of 21.75 seconds, which put him two-tenths of a second in front of his twin brother, Martin. Odum ran the 400m in 49.24, earning the last medal ahead of Monsignor Pace’s Jae-Lijah Cochran, who had a time of 49.65.
Odum said he was looking to set personal records, but he can’t complain about getting to state and then earning two medals.
“Hey. This feels good,” he said. “I’m not going to lie.”
Martin Odum was the only other UCHS athlete to qualify for state. Besides the 200m, he also ran the 400m, finishing 13th with a time of 50.32.
“It feels great,” Malcolm Odum said of getting to compete at state with Martin. “My brother and I have been working hard all these years. I feel like we deserved it.”
It was the second time the brothers have competed at state. In their freshman year, Malcolm Odum competed in the 200m, finishing 20th, while Martin Odum competed in the 400m, finishing 22nd.
COVID-19 prevented the brothers from competing as sophomores as the season was canceled, while in their junior year, Union didn’t compete in a district, which meant no participation in the Florida High School Athletic Association postseason.
When the brothers qualified for state as freshmen, it was the first time Union had any track-and-field athletes do so since Tiana Sheffield earned a berth in 2011 in the triple jump.
