Last night at the 2012 Awards Banquet Coach Ayres informed everyone that this would be his last awards banquet at South Gwinnett. Next year he will be taking a counseling job at Phoenix High School.
Coach Ayres has been at South for 7 years with 6 of those as the Girls Head Coach and 1 year as an assistant. We wanted to take a moment to honor and acknowledge Coach Ayres for his dedicated efforts coaching the girls team over the last 7 years.
Here are some of the things the girls have done while he has been the Head Coach here at South Gwinnett:

100 Meter Hurdles 16.37 Desi-ray Morris 2008-04-18
Region 8AAAAA Girls Meet-FAT
100 Meter Dash 12.76 Ashley White 2008-04-18
Region 8AAAAA Girls Meet-FAT
1600 Meter Run 5:22.10 Katie Almand 2005-03-26
Gwinnett County Championships
200 Meter Dash 26.22 Ashley White 2008-04-18
Region 8AAAAA Girls Meet-FAT
300 Meter Hurdles 46.88 Destinee Davis 2012-04-28
Class AAAAA Section East
3200 Meter Run 11:33.88 Katie Almand 2005-04-01
Mobile Challenge of Champions
400 Meter Dash 1:00.35 Janecia Lewis 2008-04-18
Region 8AAAAA Girls Meet-FAT
4x100 Meter Relay 50.37p Relay Team 2008-04-18
Region 8AAAAA Girls Meet-FAT
4x200 Meter Relay 1:51.21 Relay Team 2011-03-18 Morehouse Relays
4x400 Meter Relay 4:03.46p Relay Team 2008-05-01
GHSA Girls State Meet
4x800 Meter Relay 10:42.37 Relay Team 2008-03-22
North Florida Relays
800 Meter Run 2:27.10 Nyasha Grant 2011-04-25
Region 8-AAAAA Track & Field Championships
Discus 87-5 Tina Odume 2008-04-16 Dacula,
South Gwinnett Dual-HH
Distance Medley Relay 14:27.92 Relay Team 2011-04-02
Westlake Chic-fil-A @ Campcreek Relays
High Jump 5-2 Nyasha Grant 2012-03-07
Racing the Comet- JV
Long Jump 16-1 Darriana Wilson 2012-02-25
Bartow Jenkins Invitational
Pole Vault 7-9 Ayana Daniels 2012-04-09
South Gwinnett All Comers Meet
Shot Put 30-0.5 Tina Odume 2009-03-30
Gwinnett County Track and Field finals
Sprint Medley Relay 4:39.36 Relay Team 2006-04-01
Norcross Invitational
Triple Jump 30-2 Briana Isham 2011-04-25
Region 8-AAAAA Track & Field Championships

We will miss seeing you at South and the girls are going to miss you but thank you for all your efforts on behalf of the girls at South Gwinnett. Even though you will be in Lawrenceville we want you to know that you are always welcome out on the track at South Gwinnett.

THANK YOU COACH AYRES AND GOD SPEED!

South Gwinnett set history at the Region 8 meet by the Boys finishing 3rd overall. South is heading to the sectionals in the Triple Jump, High Jump,100, 200, 400, 4x100, 4x400. Mark, Tim, Justin Cedric, Daniel, Jordan and Fred. Destinee also qualified to compete in the hurdles. Sectionals are next saturday at Tift High School. Go COMETS!!!

March 20, 2012 USA Track and Field Georgia announced its 1st Annual All State Boys & Girls Indoor Track Teams. Mark Watts was named as a member of the Boys Team in the 400m.
Mark completed the Indoor Season at the New Balance Indoor Nationals in the 400m and finished in the Top 50 in the USA.
Congratulations to Mark on a great senior Indoor season and being included in this prestigious group. We look forward to seeing big things from Mark for the High School Season and also in college.
USATF Georgia Boys All-State Indoor Team

South Gwinnett's second outing of the 2012 season was a good one. South young men took the 2nd Place trophy and had some great performances. South's women also had some great performances as well. For a full list go to South Gwinnet Track & Field Facebook.
www.facebook.com/southgwinnetttrack

February 25, 2012 Bartow Jenkins Invitational at Central Gwinnett High School. South Gwinnett Men won the meet with 130 pts followed by Central Gwinnett with 105.5.
South had a lot to be proud for its first outing of the 2012 campaign.
In the field events Nyasha Grant and Alysia "AJ" Johnson took first and 3rd place in the high jump.Nyasha also took 3rd in the 800m. Tashenna Blair took 2nd in the 1600m and 3200m.South Gwinnett girls A 4x800 took 2nd. Darianna Wilson took 1st in the Long Jump. South showed once again it does know how to put out 400m runners by going 1,2 on the legs of Mark Watts and Fredd Langston.
Mark is ranked #1 in Georgia this week and Fredd is ranked #9. Justin Williams placed 4th and is ranked in the top 30 in the Georgia. In the 800m South went 1,2 with Daniel Jackson 1st and Felipe Saldana 2nd. Daniel is ranked #8 in the Georgia. Daniel took 2nd in the 1600m. South's 4x100 took 2nd with Mark Watts, Nikko Nelson, Fredd Langston and Cedric Asseh. South 4x400 took 1st and set a good enough time to be ranked number 8 in the State this week. Mark Watts, Justin Williams, Fredd Langston and Daniel Jackson ran on the A team. Cedric Asseh placed 3rd in the High Jump. Donald Onyeanula took 2nd in the Pole Vault.Mark was able to secure a 3rd place finish in the Triple Jump. Elijah Hall finished 2nd in the Discus.
Lots of work to do and another chance to show True Blue at Dacula on Friday. GO COMETS!!!
Bartow Jenkins Results

Friday and Saturday saw South Gwinnett once again show that they are the best team in the state at 400 meters competing in the prelims and the final of the Georgia Olympics 40.
On Friday evening under the lights South Gwinnett competed in heat 1 of 2. Winning there heat in grand fashion with a time 3:18.78 with Campbell following in 2nd almost 18 seconds behind at 3:26.76.
South had the fastest time of prelims across all classifications.
By virtue of its fastest time in the prelims took center lane in the finals of the 4x400 on Saturday afternoon.
The last race of the Georgia Olympics 40 begin with South in lane 4 and Geo Greene leading out as the 1st leg. The gun fired and they were out Geo handed off to Derwyn Tate after a very tight first leg. Derwyn made up several places going from 7th after the exchange to 2nd when he handed off to Mark Watts the 3rd leg and split time of 49. Mark was on the move and easily took over the number 1 position and never looked back and was able to give Kevin Gary a 10 meter lead when he gave the baton to Kevin and a split of 48+. Kevin took the baton and was gone, at one point in the race Kevin lead the pack by as much as 20 meters and brought home again for the 2nd year in a row the State Championship in 4x400 with a split time of 48 and an overall time of 3:16.82.
South also recieved the All Classification trophy which they missed last year by 1/100 of second, wining it this year by 3/100 of second.
It would be wrong not to mention the efforts of Vince Mosby whose efforts at Region made it possible for this team to get to State and who was ready and willing to take a spot if any of his team mates were unable to compete. Thanks to Vince South Gwinnett won it all in Grand Fashion and Vince gets my vote as the Most Valuable Player for South Gwinnett 2011.
It has been a great year for South with some unexpected twist and turns and now some seniors are graduating on to bigger and better things and we wish them all the success in the world in those future endeavors.
The guys have percevered and brought home another State Championship in the 4x400 meters. Great Job Guys!

ga.milesplit.com/meets/81302

South Gwinnett a day after defending its 4x400 title in the Gwinnett County Championships put on a show for everybody at the Rumble in the Jungle in the 4x400 winning in a meet setting time of 3:19.95 and did it on the legs of Geo Green, Mark Watts, Aaron Wimberly and Kevin Gary.

South with the rest of Gwinnett County is on spring break although South will continue to practice during the break and get ready for the final stretch of the high school season leading up to Region at the end of the month and State the first weekend of May.

Kevin Gary successfully defend his county titles in the 200 and 400 meters. He ran 22.00 in the 200 and 48.84 in the 400. South Gwinnett also successfully defended its dominance on the 4x400 winning on the legs of Mark Watts, Geo Green, Aaron Wimberly and Kevin Gary in a time of 3:26.30.

South Gwinnett at the Gwinnett County Track and Field Championships

The 2nd Annual Racing the Comets "Fastest Meet in Georgia" was a huge success and started on Wednesday with the JV. The South Men defended home by winning the meet and beating a very good Cedar Grove team 152 to 132. Some of the highlights of the JV:
South swept the High Jump with:
1) Malik Brown 5-6
2) Brandon Bazuaye 5-4
2) Travon Davis 5-4
South nearly did the same thing in the long jump:
1) Fredderick Langston 18-8
3) Corey Mattis 17-6.5
5) Nikko Nelson 17-3
On the women's side Tasheanna Blair took first in the 1600 6:13.60.
From the JV men and women we saw lots of good things which tells us this should be a good season on the JV side of the house.
The clerk of course dubbed the Varsity meet the "Fastest Meet in Georgia" for the speed with which it was executed on Saturday. The coaches decided early Saturday morning to proceed with the full meet. In an effort to beat mother nature's rain onslaught the meet moved at quick steady pace. This wouldn't have been possible with out the efforts of Perfect Timing Groupand our starters.
For the 2nd year in a row the Varsity Men won the meet beating a very good Dunwoody team 190 to 180. The Varsity Women took 3rd place.
Some of the highlights of the day:
On the mens side:
4x800
1) 8:44.68 on the legs of Jamal Thompson, Mark Watts, Daniel Jackson and Nick Miller
800 Meter run was almost a complete sweep by the Comets:
1) Nick Miller 2:10.42
2) Daniel Jackson 2:10.58
4) Jamal Thompson 2:15.16
400 Meter Run was also almost a sweep by the Men:
1) Kevin Gary 50.52
2) Mark Watts 50.63
4) Derwyn Tate 52.72
In the high jump Tim Daniel took 1st place at 5'10".
The long jump South took the two top spots:
1) Blake Brown 18-9.5
2) Geovon Mortimer-green 18-5
In the triple South took 2nd:
2) Shaquille Hall 37-1.5
On the Women's side:
300 Meter Hurdles
3) Dejah Howard 52.99
4x100 Meter Relay
3) 55.12
4x800 Meter Relay
2) 11:35.94
In the high jump South women swept the top spot by tying for 1st place:
Nyasha Grant 4-6
Dejah Howard 4-6
The highlight of the meet came as it usually does with the last race of the day on with South's 2010 State Champion 4x400 team of Derwyn Tate, Aaron Wimberly, Mark Watts and Kevin Gary facing off against Berkmar. Berkmar lead for most of the race. Mark Watts kept it close on the 3rd leg by staying within 10 meters of Berkmar. Mark handed the baton to Kevin Gary and the race to the finish was on. Kevin execute his race flawlessly and waited patiently for the right moment to overtake and beat Berkmar's 4th leg. At the 170 meter mark Kevin begin closing the gap. As they came off the last turn Kevin begin increasing the momentum and by the 50 meter mark Kevin had the momentum and was nearly on top of Berkmar. From 50 meters to the finish it was a tug of war to decided who would win but at the finish it was South Gwinnett's Kevin Gary edging out Berkmar for the 4x400 win.
Thank you to all those who volunteered and helped out at both meets it was a great success and we look forward to an even bigger and better series of meets next year. GO COMETS!