6A Boys Georgia Olympics Meet Preview

                                 6A Boys Georgia Olympics Meet Preview            

                                                                            Field Events
 
                                                    
                                                           McDuffie in the sandbox (gdponline)
 
The Field Events will may have points spread among many teams after the infield has cleared. The men to watch in the TJ are Jeremy McDuffie of Shiloh (49-8.75) and Malik Frankllin from Newton (48-10) In the LJ, 4 athletes have marks of 23+ including Preston Williams of Lovejoy with a pr of 24-2, Alex Richmond of Centennial (23-2) Nathan Strozier from Norcross (23-1.5) and Frankllin (23-1) Will someone go 7-00 in the HJ? A trio of 'Skywalkers' come into the HJ competition with prs of 6-10. Joseph Woodbury of Westlake, Bailey Vitatoe of Brookwood and Joshua Hill from Newnan. 6A Boys PV has been down this Spring, but it could be very tight at the Georgia Olympics as Donald Onyeanulu of South Gwinnett has the top bar at 13-6 followed by Jacob Zambo of Mill Creek (13-4) Mason Lord of Lambert (13-3)  Jake Hall, also of Mill Creek has went 13-0. Roswell's Richard Delphin is the fave to take the Discus with a pr of 182-2, but John Patterson of Parkview may push him at 172-5. Jaylin Reid of Hillgrove has a 6A best mark of 62-0 in the Shot and it will take great efforts by Joey Connors of Harrison (56-1) Robert McCray from Rockdale County 54-8) to out-Put Reid.  
 
Prelims
 
Relays
 
Its all about qualifying safely for many of the top athletes as the Georgia Olympics has buried stars dreams with False Starts, Baton drops and zone violations. Focus, preparation and discipline will be at a premium. Westlake has the fastest 4x100m squad coming in with a fresh pr of 41.09. and their 'B' squad is a threat to score clocking a 41.66 at Sectionals.  Shiloh needs to get the baton around the track legally with a 41.44 and North Cobb hit 41.44 last week.  Westlake and Shiloh will dance again in the 4x400m relay as the Lions pr'd earlier this Spring in 3:15.51 and the Generals went 3:17 at Sectionals. Morrow, Langston Hughes, Newton and Grayson are all very swift.
 
Individual Prelims
 
The 400m race will feature 6A leader Nathan Strozier of Norcross (48.19) Its huge that Shiloh gets their duo out of Prelims comprised of Grant Swinton (48.40) and Noel Rhymer (48.69) Nigel Warrior of Westlake brings a fresh 48.46 into the meet.  Sectionals may hane been affected by some headwind/crosswinds in the 100m, Rashaad Pollard had the top time in 6A this Spring in 10.58p at Fulton County, but Kirvonte Benson from Marietta had the best Sectional time in 10.70. Dwayne Smith of Collins Hill had a pr of 10.62, but q'd last out of Sectionals...so this race is WIDE OPEN. 
 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
                                                                 Bryan Kamau of Shiloh (l) Nahom Solomon (r)
 
One can't really look at an 800m race as a distance event now, as many 400m runners train up for it. Looking at Sectionals times it had to be stressful knowing when to back off the final few meters. Josh Ingalls has pr'd at 1:51.78, Jeramey Hampton of N.Gwinnett posted a 1:51.93 down in Mobile, Bryan Kamau of Shiloh has went 1:53.12 and had the top Sectional time. The 200 meters will be fun as Grant Swinton pr'd at Sectionals in the 200m at 21.54, Pollard of WEstlake pr'd at Region in 21.51, Brandon Williams of Lovejoy clocked a 21.57 at Region as did Lawrence Crawford from Rockdale. 
 
                                               
                                                         Jeremy McDuffie of Shiloh HS (gdponline)
 
The Hurdles events are where Shiloh needs to put the pedal to the floor with Jeremy McDuffie a big favorite in the 110 highs sporting a pr of 13.87 and also top dawg in the 300 lows at 37.40. Looking to breakup a sweep will be Robert Dunning of Kennesaw and Martice Moore fof McEachern (in both events) and Daniel Roberts of Luella in the 110h and Christian Smith from Grayson & Josiah Robertson of Centennial. 
 
                                                                                        Distance
 
                                                        
                                                                      Miles Yapp of Brookwood (file photo)
 
At Sectionals the pace was pure pedestrian looking at times. The 1600 Meters is going to be the featured race come Thursday and MileSplit GA will be shooting video (of all the 1600s and posting overnite)   Brookwood's stands to pickup 18 points if Ingalls and Miles Yapp have their say. Ingalls has a pr of 4:14.69 and Yapp 4:16.69. Kamau of Shiloh has big points at stake for Shiloh with team points at stake (4:16.90) Kenan Farmer of Walton has the #4 time in 4:20.  In the 3200m Friday late afternoon, Farmer has to be pegged as the favorite with an impressive 9:05pr at Arcadia in Cali. At least 4 others will give chase including Yapp (9:17) XC champ Kevin Mills of Peachtree Ridge (9:21) Nahom Solomon of Shiloh (9:28) and Daniel Ellis from Collins Hill (9:29)