Dargan winning the region title in the 200
As if Southwest Dekalb needed anymore help. This is an historic program that has had some tremendous athletes and future Olympians come through the school in the sport of track and field. They always have well coached kids who perform at the highest level at the state meet every year. It's one of the best track and field programs in the state with 5 titles on the girls side and 12 on the boys side with the most recent ones coming in 2015 and 2016. They're definitely one of the favorites, if not the going away favorite, to win the class 5A boys crown. They've got top level talent at the sprints, hurdles, and relays and depth to go along with it. And they also seem to have the team camaraderie that you love to see from a group of high school kids as they clearly have fun competing.
But getting a brand new sophomore who goes on to win two region titles for you doesn't hurt either. Ali Dargan is in his first season of track and field for Southwest Dekalb and has made an immediate impact. Obviously this kid had some talent and good coaching to prep him for his first race, but he still broke 11 in his very first open 100m! He ran a 10.98/22.34 at Erwin Ross. He then took a slight step back at the Christian Coleman meet running 11.15 as he must have been a little overwhelmed by those more experienced than him. But ever since then he has been steadily improving. He finished 6th in the 100 and 3rd in the 200 at the Dekalb County championships, successfully navigating his first ever round of prelims and finals. He ran 10.97 and 11.06 in the prelims and finals in the 100 and then dropped a 21.99 in prelims of the 200 to finish finals with a time of 22.10. At the Golden Eagle Invitational he was able to handle prelims and finals in the same day going 10.87 in prelims and 10.75 in the finals of the 100 to place 5th in a loaded field. But later in the day he would go on to get his first big win with a 21.47 PR in the 200m, showing that he's only getting faster and stronger as the season goes.
And then at the 2022 Region 5-5A championships he would have no problem with the rounds placing 1st in both prelims and finals for both the 100 and the 200. He successfully earned two region championships in open events and likely wasn't going all out as he ran times of 10.95 and 21.94. It's also probably safe to assume he's on at least one of Southwest Dekalb's relay teams. They rank 1st in class 5A in the 4x100 and the 4x200 so that would be the safest bet. But they're also ranked 1st in the 4x400 and 2nd in the 4x800 so that program clearly has some incredible depth.
