Chamblee Lady Bulldogs won their fourth consecutive DCSD Middle School Track and Field Championship as Chamblee swept the girls’ and boys’ titles on Monday. (Photo by Mark Brock)
The DeKalb County Middle School Track and Field Championships returned for the first time since 2019 and the Chamblee Lady Bulldogs picked right up where they left off as the event champions on Monday at Godfrey Stadium.
Chamblee had won the championship in 2017, 2018 and 2019 before the pandemic cancelled the 2020 and 2021 meet. The Lady Bulldogs returned to the top of the heap in a dominating fashion with a 59-point margin (120-61) over the Champion Lady Chargers with Renfroe in third with 60.
On field and preliminary day last Saturday the Lady Bulldogs jumped in front early winning a pair of new events added to the Middle School Championships this year in the triple jump and 4×800 meter relay. Girls MVP Erin Myers-Beck won the first triple jump title and set the bar for next with a leap of 32-09. Teammate Samantha Yarbrough finished fifth.
Chamblee had two teams in the new 4×800 relay that finished first and second to garner 18 points. Team A won the event with a time of 10:50.76 to set the first record in the event while Team B ran a time of 11:31.48.
The Bulldogs took a 42-21 lead over Champion after the first day of competition. Champion picked up gold in the shot put and the long jump. Syriah Session won the shot with a throw of 30-08 and Sanaa Stanton won the long jump by over a foot ahead of the next competitor with a jump of 17-01.
Seventh grader Erin Myers-Beck was named as the 2022 MVP after winning the first-ever triple jump competition, placing third in the 100-meter dash and running in the 4×100 relay.
The girls’ 1600-meter run was also on Saturday with Peachtree’s Sarah Jane Shipley taking the gold with a time of 5:46.85, 23 seconds ahead of her competition.
Champion closed the gap slightly edging out Chamblee in the 4×100 relay to open finals competition on Monday with a time of 51.74 to 51.85.
Chamblee picked up 24 points with results from the 400-meter dash, 100-meter dash and 800-meter run to expand its lead to 35 over Champion (72-37). Addison Morris won a tight race with Peachtree’s Shipley in the 800 2:33.85 to 2:35.46 and Madeline Harron was third in 2:36.09.
Taniyah Jenkins of Peachtree took the gold in the 100 with a time of 13.11 just edging out Chamblee’s Cassidy Poole (13.12) and Myers-Beck (13.64). Tucker’s Zhalay Wilson took home the 400-dash gold with a time of 1:03.29 ahead of Chamblee’s Alexis Brown (1:04.83).
Champion’s Sanaa Stanton grabbed her second gold of the meet with a tie in the 200 against Renfroe’s Kirkland Kinley as the pair crossed the finish line at the same time of 26.25.
Champion’s Sanaa Stanton (left) tied with Renfroe’s Kirkland Kinley in the 200-meter dash to claim two gold medals in the girls’ championships. She won the long jump (17-01.00). (Photo by Mark Brock)
Chamblee had complete control of the meet with 112 points to Renfroe’s 54 and Champion at 51 heading into a rerun of the 4×200 relay, the third new event of the meet this year.
Chamblee had won the original 4×200 in a tight race with Champion but a problem at the start forced the event to be run again at the end of the meet. Champion won the rematch 1:48.96 to 1:52.22 over Chamblee with Renfroe (1:54.15) finishing third.
A combined sweep of the 2022 championships by Chamblee was just the second time a school swept, the last being Tucker in 2015.
The Lady Bulldogs victory was their seventh overall since 2009 including titles in 2009, 2010 and 2012 which leads for girls middle school track titles. No other school has won more than one.
See links below for full meet results and current meet records: