This Saturday the newly re-named Atlanta International Classic will feature its strongest field in its short history. I know many anxious seniors will be graduating this weekend and begin a new exciting stage of their lives with promises of new experiences, new friends, new places and hoorah! some real independence and responsibility..But, the underclassmen track stars of the future are taking advantage of the opportunity to compete against top International and some of the nation's best athletes from other states. Murray Sanford from USATF GA and the DeKalb International Training Center has brought this meet to a new level and if you are a true fan of the sport(and your son or daughter is not graduating) George Griffin Track on the Tech campus is the place to be beginning at 11am.

  The Eagles Soared to Another State Title on the wings of Hurdlers Walter Lenard and Durrell Smith who crushed the hopes of ACS to repeat as champs capping off a great day for Coach Bill Thorn who was the honorary speaker.

Jeff Davis and Swainsboro Stayed off the Radar Unitl their region meets and it became obvious early in Jefferson they were the teams to beat.

          The 2008 Version of the Ga Olympics Will Go Down as One of the Closest Meets in the Battle for Team Titles and Greatest Performances Ever Recorded. McEachern achieves a tie with Marietta on the last stride!! Holy Smokes...

      Blair O'Bryant was Tough Down the Stretch and his Gutty Performances in the 800m and anchor leg of the 4 x 400 supplied Chapel Hill with a 1 point Victory over the Tucker Tigers in a very close low scoring affair--Like I Predicted.....

   Christian Taylor Scores a Maximum of 35 Points and Ends his HS Career as the Most Decorated Track and Field Athlete in Georgia.

        If the Girls meet was any indication for excitement and outstanding matchups and performances the Boys meet should be at least equally satisfying. You should try to make the effort to come to Jefferson to see many of the best athletes ever in GA Track and Field history. If, you are not able to make it we should be able to update results event by event if all goes as planned. If not, I will be updating on the Forum beginning around 5pm with Field Events.

           The 4A Boys title is going to resemble perhaps a lower scoring but much tighter chase for a champion to be detemined. One thing to be sure of is the "Deangelo Cherry Show" will take top billing. Deangelo is ranked #4 in the MileSplit National Rankings in the 100m(10.24) and a not too shabby #8 in the 200m(20.91).  

              Throw Out the Power Rankings for this Class....Cause alot of attrition took place in the 5AAA meet and because of the way the State meet is set up. The benefactors of this will be Carver,Columbus, Shaw, Monroe Albany, Flowery Branch and especially defending champ Sandy Creek. But...don't miss the show!           

         A whole lotta shakin' went on in the Power Rankings after Region meets so throw out the pre-region standings and some rural programs are going to have a say in how the 2A Team Title is determined...for example

A recap from perhaps the greatest Girls State Track meet ever for individual and relay performances. This meet will be down in the books where the bar for excellence has been raised considerably for the future stars of GA HS Girls Track to set their sights on.  Collins Hill Makes it 3 Consecutive Track and Field Titles!    

North Oconee HS is only 5 years new, but they were the benefactor of surprising outstanding performances from Rural schools in key events keeping the power region schools from 6AA in check and not to mention the total domination of R&R Greenwall in the distance events and a key performance from Autumn Moser in the TJ made the difference.  

  Landmark Christian adds Another State Title to their Trophy Case.

    Brittany Long Puts on a Show in Albany on the Field and the Mondo Leading the Panthers to a 2nd Consecutive State Title.

Heading into today's finals this meet has been wild and what better way to desribe the outlook than a Ted Nugent(the wild man) of rock and roll in the mid 70's through the 80's than a couple of his most famous anthems.... "Stranglehold", ah, what a great song, and in classes AAA, AAAAA, and AAAAA 3 schools if things go as they have these past 2 days have that kind of situation facing them today. AAA- Therrell is in excellent shape going into the finals with Brittany Long the clear favorite in the 100 and 200 meters leading their efforts and also bolstering both of their top seeded relay teams and even though Deanna Lee DQ'd in the 400m, Jawanda King is the top seed in the 400 meters and this should help propel Therrell to a state title today. Carrollton is on top for now with 31 points and really is the only team with a shot to dethrone Therrell having 6 entries going into today and Portia Wilson is a top seed in the 300 hurdles and the Trojan's 4x100 squad can score big in the last event of the day. AAAA- SW DeKalb will get rolling early in the first event of the day and will quickly make up ground on the field in nearly every event although they start the day with only 5 points. Kia Jackson is a top seed in the 100 and 200 meter races and will help fuel their relay teams. SW DeKalb also has 2 top seeds in the 800m. Currently Chapel Hill leads with 29 points. AAAAA- Collins Hill has been a big gun all year and through the distance efforts of Amanda Winslow and Allyson McGinty have 28 points now and Nick Akande, Symone Glover and the Eagles 4 x 400 team figure to score big also. Redan though has the juice and entries to push them to the brink.... "Free for All", another Nugent anthem and class A and AA surely will go down to the last event. AA- North Oconee has racked up the lead(30) through the efforts of the super frosh duo Greenwall twins, but only has one event left with Rebecca Greenwall being the top seed in the 800. My pre-season pick was the Early County Bobcats who are sitting pretty with 14 points and Antiniqua Reed is posed to rack up big in the 200 and 400 meter races as well as anchor both relay teams which could put these ladies over the top. Although, Wesleyan, Decatur, GAC(currently in 2nd with 24) and Lovett have enough entries in events to take this thing down to the last meter in the 4x400 should Early have a miscue.... A- Thinking about A gives one a headache. But Landmark has enough firepower to maintain their lead with top seeds in the hurdles with Kenze Thrasher and Christian McGuire. Twiggs County and especially Warren County will push them to the limit though as well as Athens Christian and OLM will rack up big in the 400, 800 and 4x400 relays. I may have and am sure some teams got left out of this. But look for images on Sunday and a post race story late tonight or Sunday!