1A Private
Henry Dwyer gains some redemption after falling ill in 12' gliding to 4:10 and the A Private State title Images by Pinion Photography
Athens Christian's track machine rolled up 72 points on Day 1 at the Georgia Olympics in what has to be an all-time Ga Olympics record (or close) Thrower, Jordan Pickerall set a new A record in the Discus at 168-1 then doubled in the Shot at 57-6. Teammate Joseph Ruggiers came up big placing 3rd in the Shot and 4th in the Discus. Levi Cummings came back strong from a disapointing Sectional meet winning the Pole Vault at 14-0. Demetrius McWhorter scored in 3 events beginning with the HJ placing 2nd at 6-0, placed 4th in the LJ and flew to Gold in the TJ at 43-02 with teammate Josiah Brooks seizing 2nd in 42-11
ELCA scored 28 points led by Issac Rochelle's runnerup Discus toss of 160-00, N.Cobb Christian picked up 22 points, Athens Academy has 19 led by Henry Dwyer's fantastic 4:10 1600m win and Darlington has 17.5 behind Miles Bearden's 6-10 win in the HJ Robbie Keough from Whitefield had a great race w/ Dwyer clocking a 4:15 for 2nd place.
1A Public
Dylan Smith of Gordon Lee wins the 1600m Images by Pinion Photography
Charlton County picked up 33 points in the Field taking the Day 1 lead for A Public thanks to 18 points in the HJ as Daveron Reed won at 6-4 and Julian Roberts placed 2nd. Commerce had a good day scoring 30 points largely due to Dekerrio Ramsey's win in the TJ with a mark of 44-02, 2nd place effort in the LJ at 21-01 and Micah Eason's win in the Shot w/ a heave of 48-2.50 Bryton Wenzel of Baconton Charter led the 1600m the entire race until Gordon Lee's Dylan Smith made a run at him with 150 meters to go passing Wenzel and holding him off for a narrow win in 4:42.31
2A
Jordan Flowers of Westminter takes the 1600m title. Images by Pinion Photography
The contenders for a team title did well on Day 1 as Calhoun took advantage of their strengths and scored 35 points behind Sebastian Willer's throws double winning the Discus in 150-03 and the Shot with a mark of 51-02 and teamate Keith Fightmaster's victory in the HJ at 6-08. Brooks County thrived off Deric Herring's new state record mark of 22-11.50 in the LJ (and 3rd place finish in the TJ) and Martavious Brooks' win in the TJ at 45-06.25. Lamar picked up big points from Miquavious Searcy in the horizontals placing 2nd and 3rd and 4th in the HJ! Westminster scored 16 points in the 1600m behind Jordan Flowers' win in 4:24.35 and Jag Ganjemi's 4:28 3rd place effort. Orlando Burgess of Heard County made a late charge down the homestretch placing 2nd in 4:26 Mason Hamrick electrified the home crowd clearing 15-00 taking the Gold in the PV
3A
Austin Sprague wins the 1600m Images by Pinion Photography
St. Pius X couldn't have fantasized about having a better day Thursday coming out w/ 53 points! Daniel Haugh was huge doubling in the throws with tosses of 175-11 and 154-9.50. Fred Dorsey won the TJ on his final jump going 45-05, then the distance Lions took over in the 1600m with Austin Sprague breaking away after 2 laps winning in 4:19.88 followed by Calvin Tirrell in 4:25. Hart County ended the day 2nd with 17 followed by North Hall and Peach County. Tyler Gibson of Peach County won the LJ at 22-08.25, Buford's David Curry cleared 14-0 taking the Gold in the PV and Deonte Smith of Franklin won the HJ at 6-06.
4A
Daniel Navarro races to the 1600m title for Marist Images by Pinion Photography
Marist took a big step towards their goal of a team title scoring 35 points Thursday w/ Carver-ATL 2nd taking advantage of their strengths at 30.5 The War Eagles struck Gold in the Discus as Kenneth Brinson slung that ufo 179-00, then tossed the steel orb good enough for 5th. Just a position behind was teammate Jonah Williams's (51-05) Daniel Navarro led from the beginning in the 1600m and just held off a hard charging Andrew Coggins of Lagrange clocking a 4:23.10 Michael Thurston of Marist placed 3rd just behind Coggins for 16 War Eagle points. Roc-M Nesbitt scored a pair of runnerup finishes for Carver in the throws w/ teamate Crooks DeLando placing 4th in the Discus. Malik Broughton of Veterans won the HJ w/ a clearance of 6-08, Tyler Craig set the new 4A record in the Pole Vault clearing 15-07, Kevin Williams of Monroe-Alb took Gold in the LJ w/ a 23-09 leap and Devin Valentine won the 1st state championship of any kind for Lanier HS taking the TJ title at 47-2.25 Eagle's Landing thrower Shawayne Lawrence ripped out a 54-05 to take the Shot title and placed 3rd in the Discus.
5A
Patrick Fleming of Pope HS takes the 5A 1600m title Images by Pinion Photography
McIntosh (20), Cedar Shoals(18) and NS Columbus(15) are all in decent position going into Saturday finals w/ McIntosh having an op to win the 3200m in Minnesota transfer Sidney Speir North Paulding had their day in the field scoring 26 points mainly behind thrower Josh Whitener as he won the Shot w/ a mark of 54-08.50 and placed 2nd in the Discus at 150-02. Seth Whitener (brother?) placed 2nd in the Shot at 50-11.50 Tray Oates set a new state 5A state meet record in the PV w/ a clearance of 16-01 w/ a boisterous crowd cheering him on. Qua Stocks of Woodland-Cartersville took the HJ title at 6-08, Justin Crawford from Hardaway won the LJ title at 22-9.50, Ventavius Sears helped NS Columbus' team quest soaring to the TJ win in 48-04 and Loganville's Josh Laughlin won the Discus title with a 6th attempt success of 161-08
The 1600m race was a hotly contested event for 3 laps but Pope's Patrick Fleming took over at the bell lap charging away from the lead pack winning going away in 4:15.58 Brad Hort scored big team points for McIntosh hanging on for 2nd in 4:19 just edging Josiah Jenkins of Cedar Shoals (4:20)
6A
Tyler Woodrome of Mill Creek kicked his way to the 1600m title Images by Pinion Photography
Mill Creek leads after Day 1 w/ 28 points followed by Brookwood at 27. The event of the day was the 1600m final which was a tight pack for nearly 3 laps, then 5 runners broke away including Josh Brickell who led lap 2 and 3, Kenan Farmer and Brian Sullivan fromWalton and MC's Tyler Woodrome. Woodrome made a huge move w/ 200m left passing everyone and held off a last ditch charge by Farmer to take the win in 4:15.85 Kenneth Fisher scored 18 for Tri-Cities winning the LJ at 23-04, placing 2nd in the TJ (46-01) Malik Franklin from Newton pulled off a mild upset in winning the TJ bounding to a mark of 47-1.50. Jaylan Reid scored some points for Hillgrove winning the Shot with a put of 56-02 and placing 5th in the Discus and teammate Dykare Hickey took 3rd in the LJ... Jared Munday from Brookwood placed 2nd in the Shot at 52-8.25 Harrison's Joey Connors won a close contest in the Discus w/ a mark of 157-07 just besting John Patterson of Parkview (156-0) Brookwood picked up points with Reece Morrow's win in the vault at 14-0, Munday's 2nd in the Shot and Bailey Vitatoe's 4th place HJ effort. The HJ competition came down to a judge's decision on misses and Westlake's Joseph Woodbury came out on top w/ a clearance of 6-8 besting Newnan's Joshua Hill.