The Druid Hills Lady Red Devils captured their first Napoleon Cobb DCSD Track and Field Championships title in thrilling fashion by winning the final event to take the win.
The Druid Hills Lady Red Devils won the 4×400-meter relay to end the 2023 DeKalb County Napoleon Cobb Track and Field Girls’ Championships with their first-ever title at the event held at Godfrey Stadium on Saturday and Monday.
Winning that first championship is always special but when you rally from behind to win in the final event made it an even bigger thrill for the Druid Hills Lady Red Devils.
Trailing two-time defending champion Chamblee and Dunwoody throughout most of the meet the Red Devils were not in the top three in team points after 24 of the 36 events.
The climb back into contention began when Sanaa Frederick set a new meet record in the 100-meter dash of 11.46 breaking the mark of 11.62 set by former Columbia and Olympic star Gwen Torrence in 1982.
Chamblee answered by capturing the 4×200 meter relay (1:45.30) to stay on track for a possible three-peat.
Druid Hills responded with a win by Harley Martz in the 1600-meter run (5:23.37) and a win in the 4×100-meter relay (46:35) by the team of Jadyn Bolden, Miya Carthan, Sanaa Frederick and Sole Frederick.
The Red Devils passed Dunwoody with a one-two finish in the 200-meter dash by Sanaa Frederick who swept the two big spring races in record setting times. Sanaa broke the even record in the preliminaries with a time of 23.82 to break the old mark of 24.02 set by Mary Ann Erigha of Chamblee in 2003. She then broke her own mark with a 23.82 in the finals. Her twin sister, Sole Frederick finished second in the event with a time of 23.87 which also better Erigha’s 2003 record.
Trailing 89-95 to Chamblee with one even to go, the 4×400-meter relay the Red Devils geared up to run while the boys’ 3200-meter run was on the track. Chamblee needed to finish fourth to seal the three-peat no matter what Druid Hills did in the race.
Druid Hills Sanaa Frederick (center) on the way to second her new meet record of 23.45 in the 200-meter dash. Chasing her are sister Sole Frederick (left) and 400-meter record setter Davenae Fagan of Arabia Mountain. (Photo by Mark Brock)
The Druid Hills relay team of Jadyn Bolden, Miya Carthan, Sanaa Frederick and Sole Frederick came together again and led from start to finish to take the gold in a time of 3:51.99. Chamblee ended up seventh in the event scoring just two points as Druid Hills jumped ahead 99-97 for the title.
Chamblee’s second place finish ended a two-year run at the top. Talley Pendleton picked up a gold in the 3200-meter run (11:50.41) to go with the gold by the 4×200 relay team.
Dunwoody finished third with 72 points with most coming in the field events including a sweep of the throwing events by Anderson Bowe. Bowe won the shot put (39-03.25) and discus (125-11.00) as part of four wins on the first day of competition. Trinity Williams won the long jump (18-01.00) and Mary McLoughlin won the pole vault (9-10.00).
Decatur finished fourth with 69 points behind four gold medals led by a 1-2 finish in the 800-meter run by Sophie D’Elena (2:16.58) and Gabriella Malerba (2:20.45). The 4×800-meter relay team of Anna Blaich, Maya Mikrut, Kate Sherwood and Tallulah Wall set a new meet record in the event with a time of 9:57.56 breaking the mark of 9:58.11 set by Dunwoody a year ago. Juno Rogers edged three other competitors tied at five feet even in the high jump to take the gold.
Tucker came in fifth in the team standings with 63 points getting a gold medal by Nijah Lewis in the triple jump (36-11.00).
A fourth record fell in the girls’ competition as Arabia Mountain’s Davenae Faban ran a 54.63 to eclipse the time of 54.85 set by Bianca Willis of Lithonia in 2000.
The Rosalind Wallace Most Valuable Award went to Druid Hills Sanaa Frederick who set two new records in the meet.
Miller Grove’s Jillian Kidd picked up a pair of medals on the day winning the 100-meter hurdles in 15.04 and finishing third in the 300-meter hurdles (46.16).
India Thorpe of Martin Luther King Jr. grabbed a gold medal in the 300-meter hurdles (45.10) and silver in the 100-meter hurdles (15.11).
Druid Hills’ victory in the meet was its first in the 46-year history of the event dating back to 1977, there was no meet in 2020 due to the Covid lockdown.
Druid Hills junior Sanaa Frederick was named the Rosalind Wallace Most Valuable Player (named for the late Stephenson girls’ track coach) for her performance at the meet. Frederick set records in the 100 and 200 dashes and was part of the 4×100 and 4×400 winning relay teams.
See links below for complete Napoleon Cobb DCSD Track and Field Championships results and records: