The 2016 DeKalb County School District’s Middle School Championships got off to a rousing start on Saturday at Godfrey Stadium as three records fell during preliminaries and finals competition.

Defending boys’ champion Tucker leads with 22 points in a tight meet after three events. Champion is close behind with 18 followed in third by Chamblee (15) and in fourth Peachtree (14).

Tucker benefitted from placing two participants in the 1600 meter run and the shot put with the best finishers of third in the long jump by eighth grader Isaiah Dunson (19-06.00) and the shot put by eighth grader Promise Vita (39-09.25) pulled in 12 of the 22 points.

Champion’s push into second place was fueled by a 1-2 finish in the long jump by eighth graders Jordan Barrow (21-01.00) and Jaden Carter (19-11.00).

Chamblee got into third behind a record setting performance by eighth grader Andrew Rogers in the 1600 meter run. Rogers ran a new meet record time of 4:51.50 to win gold in the event and break the record of 4:54.85 set by Brian Song of Henderson in 2011.

Chamblee leads the girls’ competition after the opening day with a very strong 45 points behind a sweep of first in the field events and two second place finishes overall.

Henderson is in second with 19 points and Peachtree is in third with 13 on a day when two other meet records went down in preliminary races.

Chamblee’s big lead got a big boost with a 1-2 finish in the long jump by eight grader Mia Gant (15-01.00) taking gold and seventh grader Molly Silverman (14-08.75) taking the silver medal.

Seventh grader Janae Profit picked up another big 10 points for Chamblee with a gold medal toss of 36-10.50 in the shot put. Eighth grader Maya Torres picked up a silver in the 1600 meter run (6:08.31).

Henderson was led by eighth grader Emma Schimmelman who took the silver medal in the shot put (33-10.50) while Peachtree was led by eighth grader Anna Mothner’s gold medal win in the 1600 meter run (6:07.82).

Tucker’s Jessica Shelley came out of the preliminary qualifying in the 200 meter dash with a new meet record of 25.47. Her time broke the record of 25.61 set by Angelic Henderson of Chamblee from 2010.

The other record setting performance came in the 1600 sprint medley relay as the Champion team ran a time of 4:29.93 to eclipse the previous best of 4:34.61 set by Chamblee a year ago.