We've got a special poll in store for this week as this time I've narrowed the vote down to the top five athletes that truly did amazing things over the weekend. Take a look at the descriptions for reasons each was included and then vote below for who you think was the best of the best from state, polls close on Friday at midnight.
(Coverage continues to be updated!)
Fountain winning the 200. Photo by Jacquie Haney
Rashun Fountain ran the top time of the year in the 200 over the weekend when he won the 6A state title in 20.85. And in the process not only did he avenge his narrow loss to Eric Young in the 100 and beat Westlake super frosh Sidi Njie who won the 400 earlier, he also broke Tyreek Hill's state meet record and ran the 6th fastest 200m in state history. Really any of those 3 sprinters could have made this vote and I'm sure it was a treat to see them all three in the same race. But I'll give the slight nod to Fountain, the senior from Heritage, for the 200 putting him among the all time greats in the sport in our state.
Sumner running a state record in the 400. Photo by Alex Brust
You obviously knew I was going to include Will Sumner on this vote. The Woodstock senior is possibly having the greatest track and field season in Georgia history counting indoor and outdoor so far. And he got his 2nd outdoor state record over the weekend when he ran 45.78 to win the 7A state 400m title. On top of that he also anchored Woodstock to the win in the 4x800 and was on their 4x400m team that placed 4th which was good enough to put them on the team podium. But mostly that 45.78 is what gets him the position on this list. Fans at McEachern witnessed greatness.
Schabort winning the 3200 for his 3rd individual title
With all due respect to Joe Sapone (1:52/4:11 for wins in the 16/8 as well as team runner up in 4x800), Ethan Ashley (4:12/9:07 for wins in the 16/32 as well as 5th for his 4x800 team), Nathan Solomon (1st, 1st, 2nd, and 4th in his distance quadruple attempt), and all of the other boys who ran sub 4:15 this weekend (it was so many!) but the distance kid who stood out the most was Simon Schabort. The junior from Model high school also attempted the distance triple and won all 3 of them. And on top of that he ran the fastest 3200 time of the weekend for his final event only 40 minutes after he won the 800 in a time of 1:56. This was the day after he ran 4:12 to win the 1600. But his 3200m takes the cake for sure. He ran his 9:04 with splits of 4:35, 4:29 on the hottest day of the meet. And let's also give a tip of the cap to Edward Blaha who finished right behind him in 9:05 which was the 3rd fastest 3200m that's been run this year, only behind Schabort's 9:02 and 9:04 performances.
Taylor winning the 300m hurdles
Isaiah Taylor is going to get the slight edge in the hurdles over the weekend. Malik Mixon absolutely made a case with his double wins in 13.66 (just off the all time list) and 36.60 (7th all time), but Taylor's performance in the 300m hurdles came with a little bit of extra style points. He ran a 36.56 to tie himself with Terrence Trammel (maybe you've heard of him?) for 5th all time in Georgia while also leading Southwest Dekalb to a dominant team victory in class 5A where he scored in four events for them, including wins in both 4x4 and 4x2 relays which saw his 4x200m team go #2 all time in Georgia in the prelims. But it's also a nod to a little bit of history that he ties Trammel and brings you back to the days when Trammel and Taylor's father, Angelo, were dominating the scene in the mid 90's for SWD. This program has such an impressive history and now Taylor gets to forever be a part of it.
Seth Allen chucking it 197-1 on his first throw.
We have seen field event athletes make the top ten lists in five out of six events so far this season. Christion Barker (25-3), Chris Nelson(25-0), Fountain(24-9.25), and Amare Hall(24-9.25) have rewritten the all time top ten lists going #3, #4, and tied for #6 all time in the long jump between the four of them. Riyon Rankin is tied for 9th all time with his high jump of 7-1. Alon Rogow has gone 16-7.5 and Simon Seid has gone 16-6 which are good for 6th and 10th all time. Logan Montgomery has thrown 65-2 for 7th all time in the Shot Put. And Josh Dare has thrown 199-0 which is 4th all time. But Seth Allen gets the field event nod here because he is the only one who put up a top ten all time performance at the state meet. His throw of 197-1 won the discus for him and he had to beat out Dare in the process. Putting up a top ten performance at state while beating the 4th best thrower in state history deserves a chance to win performer of the week. 197-1 is not quite his PR as he threw 198-0 earlier this year, but he had some stiff competition in Dare who threw 183-0 which was the 2nd best throw of the weekend. The New Manchester senior had to wait a long time to earn his first state title, but I'm sure finally getting on top of that podium was something really special.
Fountain winning the 200. Photo by Jacquie Haney