Last week I wrote about the top 10 storylines from the 2026 GHSA state Championships that were held at UGA on May 11-14th. I asked everybody to let me know if I missed anything and there were a few submissions that I felt were worthy of mentioning. I think in the end, I'll stand by my list with the top 10 stories. But below I've got some honorable mentions that are worth bringing to everybody's attention now. Even though they didn't make my list, these are worthy of being pointed out.
These are in no particular order, more in the order they were submitted to me or in the order I caught them.
HM - Melanie Doggett
So if there was one of these that I feel like should make the top 10 list, it's this one right here. Melanie Doggett had herself a meet. She ran 11.38 and 22.71 as a freshman to win two individual titles and probably factored on her team's relays as well. Those times a pretty stout and if you're wondering why they didn't immediately catch my attention. Well, that's because Melanie is just that good. She ran 11.01 this year. Aka 0.03s off of Candace Hill's almost unbreakable state record in the 100m. So I hesitate to say that 11.38 is routine for her but...it feels kind of routine for someone who is as elite as she is. So could you argue her performances were good enough to make the list? Absolutely. She was stout. But the thing is that she's always stout, so there wasn't really any drama there. The story of her season, so far at least, is her 11.01 time from mid April. What she does in the rest of high school is anybody's guess, but you'll likely be hearing about her for a long time.
HM - Jamari Rousseau
Another Landmark Christian athlete who deserves a nod is Jamari Rousseau. He won 3 individual titles, and two of them were new PR's. He started off his meet with a win in the 110m hurdles in a new PR of 13.76. He followed that up with a win in the 300m hurdles and finished up with a win in the 200m in a new PR of 21.45. Rousseau has been good for a very long time and almost won a state title as a freshman. He's one of the best to ever do this sport, and has racked up countless points for his team over the years.
HM - Bleckley County Sweep
So it's not really a surprise to anybody that Bleckley County won two more state titles. But here's something I didn't realize. Bleckley County is the first public school to ever pull off the four state title sweep in a school year. That means they won both boys and girls cross country state titles this fall and then they turned around and won both boys and girls track and field titles this spring, obviously with their distance runners front and center in the team scoring there. I did not realize how rare of an accomplishment this was. It's actually only been done 3 times in state history, with Westminster and Marist the only other schools to pull it off. There have been several others who won 3/4, and even a few who got a runner up in the one they lost. But only 3 schools have ever pulled off the sweep, and Bleckley County is the first public school to do it.
HM - Carrollton comes full circle
Those who know me know that I LOVE history in this sport. So when I saw this stat, it was really cool. 100 years ago Carrollton won their first state track and field title. This meet was also in Athens. This year, they came full circle and won state title #30, also in Athens. Nobody is surprised that Carrollton got the win here. They've been a powerhouse in our sport for a very long time, 100 years I suppose. But the full circle moment was something that I thought was pretty cool in this story.
HM - Owen Wilkinson
The top boys pole vaulter of the meet was Owen Wilkinson from Central High School. Owen got a PR by 7 inches to win the 4A state title. My favorite thing about Owen is that he does other events for his team as well, primarily the hurdles. It's so cool to see such an elite pole vault athlete doing other events instead of only focusing on the vault. We all know how much time and energy it takes to be good at the pole vault so that fact that he devotes himself to other technical events in this sport is pretty cool. And 16 feet in the pole vault is no joke, I'm such he was incredibly elated during that very long fall back to the pit after clearing that bar.
HM - A couple of elite GIAA athletes
So this story is not from the GHSA meet, but instead the GIAA State meet that happened a couple of weeks ago. Eric Robinson and Lucas Johnson competed at the GIAA state meet and got new PR's in the 1600. They went 1-2 with Robinson running 4:13 and Johnson running 4:16. Then Robinson turned around to run 1:53 in the 800m for runner up while Johnson won the 3200 in a time of 9:16. These are two elite athletes who absolutely would have competed with the best in the GHSA. I wish we only had one state meet, just like I wish we only had one national meet. But we don't, and it's not the fault of these two Westminster Schools of Augusta athletes that they compete in a a different league. They've been doing big things for a couple of years now, but this final hurrah for the two seniors was probably their best showing.
