Newton High, Alcovy High and Rockdale County High School combined to qualify for 26 events at the Georgia High School Class AAAAAA state title meet after competing in last Saturday’s 6A Sectional at Tift County High School.
The Lady Bulldogs led the girls teams with four state qualifiers, while Newton followed with two state representatives. The Lady Tigers’ Brianna Archer will represent Alcovy in the girls state meet in the 400 meter dash.
In the boys meet, Newton led the way with 10 state qualifiers while the Bulldogs will send nine representatives to Memorial Stadium in Jefferson next week.
Lady Bulldogs lead the way
Candace Hill paced the Lady Bulldogs once again in the short track event, placing first overall in the 100m dash (11.51) and the 200m dash (23.34), besting the top runners from Region 1, 2, 7 and 8.
Archer qualified as Alcovy’s lone state representative in the 400m dash, placing fourth overall in a time of 57.84. Newton’s Brianna Hayden also qualified for the state championship meet with a seventh place finish, running a time of 59.37.
Rockdale County’s 4x100m relay team of Kyandi Lattimer, Reyna McFadden, Antwonette Thomas and Hill also finished in the top-3 in their event, placing second in a time of 48.05. The team also placed third in the 4x400m event, posting a time of 3:58.06.
Hayden helped the Lady Rams post another state qualifying finish in the triple jump, finishing fourth overall with a leap of 36 feet, 2 inches, rounding out the area’s girls state qualifiers.
Rams pace area
In the boys sectional meet, the Bulldogs came out strong, earning state meet qualifying finishes in the three short track event.
Rockdale County’s Lawrence Crawford paced the field in the 100m dash, finishing first overall in a time of 10.78.
Crawford followed up his first-place finish in the 100m dash with a second place finish in the 200m race, posting a time of 21.61, finishing just seven-hundredths of a second back of Shiloh’s Grant Swinton.
Rockdale’s Malik Dawkins and Newton’s Shemar Rannie snuck into the state meet with seventh (49.24) and eighth (49.30) place finishes in the 400m run, while Rannie also captured a sixth place finish (1:57.28) in the 800m run.
In the 4x100m relay, Newton laced sixth overall in a time of 42.39, and both the Rams (3:19.84) and Bulldogs (3:20.02) posted state title meet qualifying times in the 4x400m relay, finishing third and fifth, respectively.
Rockdale County’s Jhibri Greer rounded out the area’s state meet qualifiers on the track, finishing sixth (14.70) and third (38.63) in the 110m and 300m hurdles, respectively. Newton’s Aziriah Foster also placed eighth in the 300m hurdles in a time of 39.61.
In the field, Newton posted a pair of state qualifiers in the high jump, as Jeremiah Holloman (6 feet, 2 inches) and Mushadi Ibere (6 feet) recorded fourth and eighth place finishes, respectively.
In the long jump, the Rams’ Malik Franklin leapt 22 feet, 6.25 inches, placing fifth overall.
Franklin (48 feet, 10 inches) and Holloman (44 feet, 4 inches) also captured second and seventh place finishes in the triple jump, respectively, and Rockdale County Keijne Thomas wrapped up a fourth place finish in the discus with a throw of 148 feet, 5 inches,
Thomas and Robert McCray also posted throws of 50 feet, 7 inches and 51 feet, 6 inches in the shot put, placing fourth and second overall, respectively.
The Georgia High School State Girls Track Meet will be held May 1-3 at High Mills Stadium in Albany before the boys wrap up state meet action May 8-10.
