The Rockdale County High School boys track and field team captured the 2014 Region 2-AAAAAA title Wednesday afternoon, besting second place Newton High for top honors in the league.
Newton finished second in both the boys and girls region events, finishing behind Lovejoy in the girls championship meet.
Rockdale finished third overall in the girls event, which region rival Alcovy placed sixth in the girls race and seventh overall in the boys meet.
Bulldogs win
In the boys event, Rockdale and Newton battled for top bragging right.
While the Rams took home a league-leading 15 top-3 finishes, it was the Bulldogs who came away with the win, pacing the region with eight individual top finishes.
Alcovy captured one spot in the top-3, while Rockdale finished just behind Newton with 14 placers in the top-3 of the meets’ events.
Lawrence Crawford (10.96) and Quawesi Mintah (11.38) helped the Bulldogs to their top overall finish on the track, placing first and third, respectively, in the 100 meter dash. Crawford followed that performance up with a second place finish in the 200m dash, finishing in a time of 21.6.
Malik Dawkins continued the Bulldogs’ impressive track run in the 400m and 800m events, palcing second in the 400m dash (49.76) and first in the 800 run (1:57.38). Newton’s Shemar Rannie joined Dawkins on the podium in both events, placing third (49.77) in the 400m dash and second (1:57.56) in the 800m run.
In the long distance events, Rockdale’s Dax Willette paced the field, placing first in both the 1600m run (4:39.89) and the 3200m run (10:08.21). The Rams’ Kameron Wallace finished third overall in the 1600m run in a time of 4:48.93.
Back on the track, Rockdale’s Jhibri Greer led the Bulldogs to a first place finish in the 110m hurdles (14>47, while Newton’s Aziriah Foster took third (15.16). Greer followed up his 110m hurdle performance with a blistering 39.08 mark in the 300m hurdles, placing first. Newton’s Foster (40.08) and Jamal Ridgel (40.99) finished second and third in the event, respectively.
Newton captured a third place finish in the 4x100m relay (43.69) and 4x400m relay (3:23.57), while Rockdale wrapped up the track events with a finish place finish in the 4x400m event (3:21.22).
In the field, Newton took the first two sports in the boys’ high jump, led by Jeremiah Holloman (6 feet, 2 inches) and Mushadi Ibere (5 foot, 10 inches). Alcovy’s Natorie Philbert placed third with a jump of 5 foot, 8 inches.
Kameron Wallace led the Rams in the high jump with a leap of 9 feet and Malik Franklin (21 feet, 7 inches) and Artice Hobbs (21 feet, 4 inches) placed second and third, respectively, in the long jump.
Newton also took second (Franklin, 45 feet, 6 inches) and third (Holloman, 45 feet) in the triple jump, but Rockdale responded by taking first (Robert McCray, 51 feet, 7 inches) and second (Keijne Thomas, 50 feet) in the shot put.
Thomas (150-feet, 4.25 inches) and McCray (145 feet, 7 inches) rounded out Rockdale’s scorers with a second and third place finish in the discus.
Lovejoy rounded out the top-3 men’s team finishers with 91 points.
Lady Rams finish second
In the girls’ meet, Newton took home a second place finish, capturing a pair of first place titles. Rockdale edged the Lady Rams with nine top-3 finishes and four individual titles.
The Lady Bulldogs’ Candace Hill finished first overall in the 100m dash (11.9) and 200m dash (23.67), while Newton’s Brianna Hayden finished second (25.35) in the 200m dash.
Hayden also added a second place finish in the 400m dash (58.07), rounding out the short track events.
In the 800m run, Rockdale found itself back on top, as Antwonette Thomas (2:25.67) placed first overall. Newton’s Maiya Newton (2:31.15) finished second in the event, as the Lady Rams and Lady Bulldogs continued to go toe-to-toe on the track.
Thomas picked up another top-3 finish in the 1600m run, finishing third in a time of 5:47.95.
In the hurdles, Alcovy’s Ayanna Martin led the way with a first place finish in the 100m hurdles, pacing the field in a time of 17.63.
Rockdale’s 4x100m relay team finished first overall in a time of 48.22, while Newton’s relay team placed second, finishing in a time of 49.14.
The Lady Bulldogs closed out the track portion of the meet with a second place (4:03.33) finish in the 4x400m relay, while Newton came in third (4:10.42).
In the girls’ high jump, Alcovy’s Serena Sawyer finished second overall with a jump of 4 feet, 2 inches and Newton’s Kourtnii Farley took home top honors with a jump of 7 feet in the pole vault.
Amira Solomon led the Lady Bulldogs to a third place finish (16 feet, 5.75 inches) in the long jump, while Newton’s Hayden (35 feet, 5.75 inches), Alcovy’s Quentasia Perry (34 feet, 4.5 inches) and Rockdale’s Solomon (31 feet, 6.5 inches) finished first, second and third, respectively in the triple jump.
Rockdale’s Taylor Wilkins (32 feet, 4 inches) finished third in the shot put and Alcovy’s Ariel McLean rounded out the area’s finishers with a second place finish in the discus with a throw of 96 feet, 2 inches.
