The Southwest DeKalb Panthers won their 11th GHSA State Track and Field Championship in the Class 5A meet held last weekend. Photos (l-r, clockwise) 4×200 relay team, 4×100 relay team, state champs and Isaiah and Xzaviah Taylor in 300 hurdles at county championships.
An 84-point day on Saturday took the Southwest DeKalb Panthers from no points heading into the third day of the Class 5A Boys State Track and Field State Championships to the top of the team standings as the state champions for an 11th time in competition at Kinnett Stadium in Columbus, Georgia.
The Panthers roared past Blessed Trinity 84-62 with Calhoun in third with 51.
Southwest DeKalb last won the title in 2016 led by twin brothers Terry and Terryon Conwell and like that 2016 championship the Panthers were led by a pair of twin brothers in Isaiah Taylor and Xzaviah Taylor who helped account for 60 of the 84 points on the third and final day of the state championships. The Taylors are the sons of Olympic gold medalist Angelo Taylor who was a five-time state champion as part of the 1995 and 1996 Southwest state championship teams.
The Panthers won the 4×100, 4×200 and 4×400 relays with each of the two Taylors as part of two of the relay squads to win gold.
Isaiah Taylor teamed with Ali Dargan, Ke’Ante Thornton and Kenneth Robbins to win the 4×100 in a time of 41.48 to score 10 points for the eventual state champs.
Xzaviah Taylor joined Dargan, Robbins, Dargan and Xavier Turner to claim the gold medal in the 4×200 relay with a time of 1:25.61 as the Panthers piled on another 10 points.
Isaiah and Xzaviah along with Turner joined Therrian Alexander III to capture the Panthers third relay gold of the meet by taking the final event (4×400 relay) with a time of 3:14.63.
Isaiah (36.56) and Xzaviah (38.24) teamed up to take the gold and bronze, respectively, in the 300-meter hurdles to tack on 16 more points on the big Saturday for the Panthers. The 16 points gave Southwest its first lead of the meet with 62 points and the Panthers never looked back. Isaiah tacked on eight more points with a silver medal finish in the 110-meter hurdles (14.26). Xzaviah picked dup a second bronze with a time of 49.15 in the 400-meter dash that collected six more points.
Dargan who was part of the 4×100 and 4×200 gold-medal winning relay teams collected a silver in the 100-meter dash (10.64) and a bronze in the 200-meter dash (21.69) to contribute 14 points in the state championship run. Jackson Taylor added six points with a third-place finish in the 800-meter run (1:56.25).
Isaiah Taylor finished as the Class 5A Boys State Track Meet High Points Champion with his performance on Saturday. Southwest DeKalb finished with a trifecta of championships in 2022 winning the DeKalb County Championship, Region 5-5A championship and the Class 5A state championship.
Chamblee finished 14th in the Class 5A boys’ standings with 17 points led by William Elder’s fifth place finishes in the 1600-meter and 3200-meter runs to go with a third-place finish by the Bulldog 4×800 relay team (8:05.34).
The Martin Luther King Jr. Lions finished 31st overall with four points, three from its 4×800 relay (8:08.16) that finished sixth.
Stephenson’s Jace Coleman won a pair of silver medals in the Class 4A State Track Championships. He was runner-up in the both the 100 and 200 meter dashes. (Photo by Mark Brock)
OTHER STATE TRACK RESULTS
DeKalb County had four other teams spread out across the state competing in various classifications to pick up Top 10 finishes led by Stephenson Jaguars who came up just six points short of repeating as the Class 4A state champions in competition at Hugh Mills Stadium in Albany.
Stephenson totaled 59 points with Marist in first with 64 and Jefferson in third with 54.
The Jaguars picked up a gold in the 4×100 relay as Cordell Andrews, Jace Coleman, Devin Ingram and Abubakar Diarrassouba clocked a time of 41.89 to win the event to kick start a 55-point day in Saturday’s track events. Stephenson came out of the field events with just four points heading to the track.
Jace Coleman claimed silver in both the 100-meter (10.75) and 200-meter (21.50) dashes to add 16 points to the Jaguars’ total. Abubakar Diarrassouba added a bronze finish in the 200-meter dash (21.58) and the 4×400 team (3:22.83) wrapped up the day with a bronze medal finish as well.
Arabia Mountain and Druid Hills finished tied for 31st and Miller Grove was in a tie for 37th in the 41-team field.
CLASS 3A
The Cedar Grove Saints finished seventh overall at the Class 3A state meet in Carrollton collecting one silver and one bronze medal along the way.
The 4×100 relay team captured second in the finals with a time of 41.97 to lead the way. In in a pair of solid finishes Eric Jordan took a bronze in the 100-meter dash (10.82) and a fourth in the 200-meter dash (22.11).
CLASS 2A
The Towers Titans put up a solid eight place finish in the Class 2A state meet at Kinnett Stadium in Columbus led by Elijah Hobson’s all-around performance.
Towers put together 27 points all on the back of Hobson who became the second Titan to win the state triple jump gold. He leapt 47’-0” to claim the top spot.
Hobson was second in the long jump (23-01.25), fourth in the 200-meter dash (22.60) and fifth in the 100-meter dash (11.08).
Columbia’s Adarius White finished eight in the 100 (11.26) to pick up the Eagles’ lone point of the meet.
CLASS 6A
The Tucker Tigers picked up a Top 10 finish tying with Langston Hughes with 25 points led by a pair of bronze medal performances at Grisham Stadium in Carrollton.
Abedelemejid Kerebo won a bronze medal in the 800-meter run (1:55.10) and Ian Hodge took the bronze in the high jump with a height of 6’-06”.
CLASS 7A
Dunwoody came up just short of a Top 15 finish in the Class 7A state meet at McEachern High School in Powder Springs with a team total of 16 points.
Pole vaulter Alon Rogow became a three-time state champion as he captured a third consecutive state title in the pole vault with his height of 15’-06” to bring home a gold medal. Carrington Tate added five points to the total with his fourth-place finish in the discus (152’-06”).
See link below for full 2022 DCSD STATE TRACK RESULTS: