Taylor Dickerson 2012 Festus Tiger Town Inv

Interview with Jackson High School senior Taylor Dickerson at the 2012 Festus Tiger Town Track & Field Invitational, Tuesday, April 3. The Jackson High distance standout just missed All-State honors at the 2011 Class 4 State Track Meet with her 9th place finish in the 1600 in 5:03.13. The southeast Missouri native who is usually clad in her trademark black sunglasses will look to break the five minute barrier for the 1600 this season. Dickerson captured All-State honors as a junior in cross country with her 13th place finish at the 2010 Class 4 State meet. Injury limited her to a 38th place finish as a senior. Taylor celebrated her 18th birthday Tuesday by signing her letter of intent to compete in college at Maryville University in St. Louis, which has moved to NCAA Division II from Division III, before competing at the Tiger Town meet. Dickerson ran a leg of the Jackson 4x800 which placed 6th in 10:47. She later added a 3rd place finish in the 800 in 2:21, before finishing with a leg on the 4x400 where Jackson finished 7th in 4:27 in the rain. Dickerson has had a strong start to her senior season. March 24, Dickerson was runner-up in the 1600 at the Missouri Relays posting a time of 5:18. She followed that at the Perryville meet on March 31, where Dickerson was edged by 1/100th of a second by Saga Barzowski for the 1600 title, 5:08.92 to 5:08.93.Unfortunatley rain delayed the pole vault for a while Tuesday in Festus, keeping the Jackson team from leaving Festus until 10 p.m. for the 75 mile drive to Jackson.