The Cedar Grove Saints tied a record held by Druid Hills to become just the second DeKalb County track team to win three consecutive state titles with a 71-66 win over Westminster in the Class 3A State Track Meet at Hugh Mills Stadium in Albany.
The 4×400 meter relay team of Terrence Lewin, DeAnthony Moore, Israel Spivey and Mathew Young closed out an improbable rally with gold medal a tight win over Monroe (Albany) 3:19.89 to 3:20.18 to vault into first place in the team standings. It was the fifth consecutive season the Saints won the relay event and eight in the last nine years, missing out in 2012.
Trailing Westminster by 20 points (62-42) with three events left, the Saints came back to win in dramatic fashion with a big boost of 11 points as Spivey (21.90) and Kortney Cox (22.10) finished third and fourth in the 200 meter dash to close the gap to 66-53 with two events remaining.
The gap was narrowed to 66-61 as Jadon Haselwood, who had won the 110 meter high hurdles state title earlier in the day, took third (39.90) and Barry Williams was seventh (41.77).
The Saints needed just a third place finish in the 4×400 relay to snatch the title and continued their dominance in the event with the title winning gold medal.
Haselwood’s time of 14.52 to win the 110 meter high hurdles gave DeKalb its first gold medal in the event since 2012 when Martin Luther King Jr.’s Jordan Moore won the Class 5A state title in the event.
Spivey also added a silver medal in the 100 meter dash (10.73) with Cox once again taking fourth (10.93). Terrance Lewin picked up a silver medal in the 400 meter dash (49.66) and the 4×100 meter relay team picked up a bronze.
The state title was Cedar Grove’s eighth title overall and marks the first time in school history for the Saints to claim two state titles in the same school year. The Saints won their first ever Class 3A state football championship this past fall also under Coach Jermaine Smith.
Redan was 23rd with 9 points led by a fourth place finish in the 4×400 relay.
The Cedar Grove Saints finished 11th overall in the Class 3A girls’ state track meet with 17.5 points led by a fifth place finish by the 4×100 meter relay team (49.20).
Stone Mountain was 18th led by Toni Pellington. Pellington was fourth in the high jump (5-2.00) and sixth in the long jump (16-5.00). Redan was 27th with three points.
Class 5A at Carrollton
The Southwest DeKalb Panthers two-year reign as the Class 5A boys’ state champs came to an end at Carrollton as Cedar Shoals upended the defending champs 71-51.
Despite coming up short the Panthers twin duo of Terryon and Terry Conwell combined for three gold medals and one silver on the day.
Terryon Conwell swept the 100 (10.83) and 200 (21.68) meter dashes for the second consecutive season. Terry Conwell won the 400 meter dash (47.59) for the second consecutive year and took home the silver in the 200 meter dash (21.86) just behind his brother for the second year in a row.
Arabia Mountain picked up a Top 10 finish (9th) with 22 points led by Michael Willingham’s third place in the discus (170-11.00). Miller Grove was finished 16th with 12 points led by a bronze medal finishes in the 1600-meter relay (3:21.43) and by Fereday Chipere in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles (39.22).
Chamblee was 33rd with four points.
The Miller Grove Lady Wolverines finished fifth in the girls’ meet with 42 points led by sophomore Emoni Coleman’s gold medal in the 800 meter run (2:15.07) and silver in the 1600 meter run (5:05.40).
Arabia Mountain was 16th with 14 points led by sophomore Patra Williams’ gold in the high jump (5-4.00). Chamblee was 25th with 7 points.
Class 6A at Carrollton
The Tucker Lady Tigers finished the season with a fifth place finish in the Class 6A state meet at Carrollton.
Antonia Frazier led the way with a gold medal in the 100-meter intermediate hurdles (14.59) and Kaylah Lumsden took second in the 100-meter dash (12.09). The 4×400 meter relay picked up a silver medal with a time of 47.38.
Martin Luther King Jr. finished 11th (19) while Dunwoody and Stephenson finished tied for 27th (8).
The DeKalb teams in the boys meet were led by Martin Luther King Jr. in 18th (10), Tucker 20th (9) and Stephenson 24th (7).
Class 7A at Rome
The Lakeside Vikings finished in the Top 15 at the Class 7A boys’ state meet led by a pair of silver medals by sophomore Brian Herron.
Herron finished second in the 400 meter dash (46.64) and the 200 meter dash (21.05). Gordon Lewis was fourth in the discus (144-4.00).
Morgan Mihalis picked up a bronze in the 3200 meter run to help Lakeside to a 24th place finish (6) in the girls’ meet.