Chamblee junior Venida Fagan (4) holds off Miller Grove’s Tiara Williams (3) and Cierra Jones (5) for the 100M Dash gold. (Photo by Mark Brock)
A girls’ county track and field championship had eluded the Chamblee Lady Bulldogs for 37 years entering the 2015 DeKalb County Track and Field Championships finals on Monday as Chamblee laid claim to the title with an impressive showing at Panthersville Stadium in the two-day event.
The highest finish in the county meet for Chamblee came in 2001 with a runner-up spot behind Stephenson, but with a big push in the field events to take the early lead Coach Curtis Mattair’s Lady Bulldogs held on for their first ever county title 102-96.5 over Redan. Defending champion Miller Grove rallied from 8th after the field events to finish third with 83.5 points.
“This is very exciting for Chamblee girls’ track,” said Mattair. “The girls’ learned they could compete with the best during this meet. The wins in the field events and the one-two finish in the long jump got us going. Our 3200 meter girls picked up some huge points going into the final event.”
Redan which entered the day in fifth place 19.5 points behind Chamblee pulled within 4.5 points of Chamblee as Shequilla McClain claimed her second hurdle gold of the day in the 300 hurdles (44.30) with two events remaining.
2015 DeKalb Co. Girls’ Track and Field Champions — Chamblee Lady Bulldogs
Chamblee then got a big boost in the 3200 meter run as Paris Williams (12:51.07) and Beining Xiao (12:51.28) finished seventh and eighth, respectively, to pick up a crucial three points combined to give Chamblee a 7.5 point cushion heading into the 4×400 relay to end the meet.
Chamblee had the sixth best time in qualifying for the 4×400 relay and Redan had the top time heading into the final race of the day. The Lady Bulldogs got out quick on the first leg and despite being passed on the second leg by Redan (3:51.99) hung close to finish second (3:55.24) and secure the program’s first ever DeKalb County Track and Field Championships title.
The first day was a big part of the win for Chamblee with gold medals by Rachel Edler in the long jump (17-05.00) and Elena Brown-Soler in the high jump (5-04.00) and two silver medals from Brown-Soler
Redan’s Shequilla McClain swept the 100M and 300M hurdles. (Photo by Mark Brock)
(long jump) and Sydney Holmes in the pole vault (8-00.00). The first day’s performance gave Chamblee a 14.5 point lead over Dunwoody heading into the track finals on Monday.
Junior Venida Fagan stepped up on the track winning the 100 meter dash (12.22) and the 200 meter dash (24.88) to keep Chamblee in the lead.
Promise Clark doubled up on gold medals in helping Redan close the gap with a win in the triple jump (36-03.50) and the 400 meter dash (57.84).
Junior Ansley Heavern provided Dunwoody with a boost to finish fourth as she swept the 1600 meter (5:26.72) and 3200 meter (11:45.20) runs.
Other individual gold medal titles went to Stephenson’s Timberly Molden in the shot put (38-02.50), Cedar Grove’s Amani Taylor in the discus (108-04.00) and Tucker’s Kiera Washington in the 800 meter run (2:20.79).
Miller Grove won the 4×100 meter relay in 47.48 to close out the gold medal winners.
BOYS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
Southwest DeKalb’s Terryon Conwell (yellow) pulls even with McNair’s Marcellus Boykins (5) on the way to the 100M Dash gold. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Seven gold medal performances in 16 events was almost not enough as Southwest DeKalb won its first DeKalb County Boys’ Track and Field Championships title since 2010 as the Panthers held off the Stephenson Jaguars 98-88.5 to win the championship.
Southwest DeKalb was in third after the field events with 33 points despite gold medal wins by Tariq Bradford in the high jump (6-00.00) and Montavius Coleman in the discus (149-02.00) with Stephenson right behind with 28 on the back of silver medal finishes by Denzel Harper in the long jump (22-11.00) and Makevius Brewer in the high jump (5-10.00).
The Panthers then won three of the first four events in Monday’s track finals to take a 69-53 lead over Lakeside, the first day leader with 40 points, with Stephenson trailing with 46.50. Sophomore brothers Terry and Terryon Conwell keyed the run for Southwest with wins in the 400 meter dash by Terry (49.17) and the 100 meter dash by Terryon (10.70) and teaming up on the 4×100 meter relay team for another gold medal (42.18).
2015 DeKalb County Boys’ Track and Field Champions — Southwest DeKalb Panthers
Stephenson’s 2014 state champion Denzel Harper captured the 110 meter hurdles (14.81) and teammate Kendrick Waters (15.79) was third as the Jaguars picked up 16 points in the event to pull within 6.50 points of the Panthers.
The Conwells got a big one-two finish in the 200 meter dash with Terryon (21.71) winning and Terry (21.87) in second to boost Southwest DeKalb with 18 points and provide an 88-70.5 lead.
The two-time defending champion Jaguars were not finished as Harper won the 300 meter hurdles (38.59) and Waters was fifth (42.38) to notch 14 points to close the gap to 88-84.5 with only the 4×400 relay left to run.
The Southwest DeKalb relay team sealed the title by running away with the 4×400 relay in a time of 3:18.30 while Stephenson dropped to fifth in the race.
Stephenson’s Denzel Harper (4) clears a hurdle on the way to the 110M gold medal. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Coach Napoleon Cobb reaped the benefit of the high performing Panthers to bring home his 10th title overall in the 50th consecutive DeKalb County Championships. It was the Panthers 13th win which includes a streak of 10 from 1989 to 1998.
Redan’s Chris McBride, a 2014 Class 4A long jump state champion, swept the long jump (23-04.00) and triple jump (44-08.00) for the second consecutive year.
Clarkston’s Abbas Abbkar showed a great kick in the last 200 meters of both the 1600 meter (4:26.85) and 800 meter (1:56.09) runs to race past the leader in both races to pick up two gold medals.
Other individual gold medals went to Lakeside’s Davis Stockwell in the 3200 meter run (9:37.09) and Druid Hills’ Javier Lee in the shot put (48-01.00).
Teams move on to prepare for their respective region meets coming up in a couple of weeks.