The track and field season got began in earnest for most schools in the state, including two of Newton County’s teams.

The 2017 East Metro Relays, hosted at Salem High in Conyers this past Saturday, featured impressive performances from athletes defending state champion Newton and Alcovy.

In girls action, the Newton girls team enjoyed several first place finishes in both individual and team events, including a top finish in the girls 4x400m relays. The Rams edged out Cedar Shoals with a time of 4:22.49. Newton also showed strong in the 4x100m throwers relay and 4x200m relay, finishing first (1:00.10) and second (1:50.84) respectively in each.

In the 4x200, Cedar Shoals edged out Newton by a little more than one second.

Individually, sophomore Ebony Forbes had a strong showing in the jumps, finishing first in the girls long jump with a jump of 17-feet, 6 ½ inches. She placed second in the long jump behind Dunwoody sophomore Jahvene Walder with a 4-foot, 8-inch jump.

Newton Junior Jon’nay Haws finished second in the triple jump with a 35-foot, 11-inch leap. Newton senior Shakira Davy (32’6) and Alcovy senior Alecea Housworth (32’2 ½ ) finished fifth and sixth respectively.

Other strong performances on the girls side included Alcovy sophomore Jovita Dave who finished third in the discus with a throw of 86-feet, 3 ½ inches. Newton’s Carley McBridge placed third in the girls 100m dash, clocked at 12.84 seconds. And Newton’s Aryelle McDonald (13.00) and Alcovy’s Kiara Lipsey (13.05) finished fifth and sixth respectively.

In boys action, it was Alcovy junior sprinter Quindrelin Hammonds who stole the show by edging out Cedar Shoals’ Rogerous Swain by the slimmest of margins to win the 100m dash. Hammonds, also a quarterback for Alcovy’s football team, ran an 11.17-second race, beating Swain by one one-hundredth of a second.

Alcovy junior Jakob Streeter grabbed the top spot in the boys long jump with a 21-foot, 10-inch leap. The Tigers also had a solid fourth place showing in the 4x100m relay, finishing with a time of 44.63 seconds, less than a second behind third place Riverwood International Charter.

Click here for full results of the East Metro Relays