The Arabia Mountain Lady Rams repeated as the DCSD Junior Varsity Girls’ County Champs. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Eight new records were set in the 2024 DeKalb County Junior Varsity Girls’ Track and Field Championships as the Arabia Mountain Lady Rams earned a repeat title 132 to 107 over the Redan Lady Rams at Godfrey Stadium this week.
Arabia Mountain finished the day with 24 Top 8 finishes including two gold medals (one new record), six silver and three bronze as they put together 132 points. It is second behind last year’s record of 162. Arabia Mountain’s win also tied Miller Grove and Stephenson with most titles (3).
Andrea James earned MVP honors for the Lady Rams as she set a new meet record in the triple jump with a lead of 35-feet even and took a silver in the long jump at 15-10. The record setting triple jump broke the bar of 33-feet, 9-inches set by Nashuri Edwards of Towers just last year and was one of five new field event records set on the day. Smith also claimed a silver in the 100-meter hurdles (15.79).
The Lady Rams also pulled in a gold in the 4×100-meter relay (46.69). Two of the six silver medals were pulled in by Trinity Balfour In the 200-meter (26.31) and 400-meter (1:00.15) dashes.
Redan compiled 107 points with 16 Top eight finishes that included five gold medals (one record), four silver and one bronze. The record came in the girls’ high jump as Kameron Smith won with a jump of 5-feet, 2-inches to break the old mark of 5-feet set in 2022 by Taniyah Scott of Miller Grove.
Ave’onah Mendez, a freshman, collected two gold medals for the Raiders as she won the 200-meter (26.25) and 400-meter (59.81) dashes. Redan also won two of the four relay events including the 4×200-meter (1:47.51) and 4×400-meter (4:13.87) relays. Tasania Colquhoun picked up two of the four silver medals with second place finishes in the 800-meter (2:34.34) and 1600-meter (6:03.73) runs.
The finish was Redan’s best of the nine meets held since 2015.
Southwest DeKalb’s strong third place finish with 100 points featured 20 Top 8 finishes including three gold medals (2 records), two silver and two bronze. It was Southwest DeKalb’s highest finish in the event.
Arabia Mountain’s Andrea James was named Most Valuable after setting a new triple jump record of 35-feet. (Photo by Mark Brock)
The Lady Panthers set new records in both hurdle events on the track. Shilah Tasby won the 100-meter hurdles in 15.68 to break the record of 16.53 set by Ky’Leigha Robinson of Miller Grove in 2019. Sanaa Stanton claimed the gold and a new record in the 300-meter hurdles of 46.65 to break the old mark of 47.97 set by Madison Hale of Arabia Mountain in 2019. Tasby finished second to Stanton in the 300 hurdles (48.74).
Nina Gilbert gave the Lady Panthers their third gold medal with a win in the 3200-meter run with a time of 13:32.51.
Stephenson finished fourth with 71 points led by 15 Top 8 finishes including a new 800-meter run record of 2:27.99 set by Tatyana Baptiste. The mark broke the 2:28.05 standard set by Vanesa Rubio-Toxtle of Cross Keys from 2016.
Towers put up 67 points to finish fifth overall in the standings as the Lady Titans put together 13 Top 8 finishes including two gold medals (1 record), two silver and one bronze along the way.
Layla Adams had the record setting gold medal performance in the long jump with a leap of 18-feet, 9-inches to break the previous mark of 17-feet, 7-inches set by Arabia Mountain’s Samaria Allen in 2017. Adams also collected the other gold medal for Towers with a win in the 100-meter dash (12.62) which was just 0.01 off the record.
Miller Grove put up a record setting throw in the discus as Saniya Francis had a toss of 96-feet, 11.25-inches to break the record of 96-feet, 7-inches set by Marlynda Douglas of Miller Grove in 2019.
The final record breaking performance came by Cedar Grove’s Ariyahna Hinds-Perry in the shot put with a throw of 31-feet, 9-inches to surpass Miller Grove’s Jaylen Clark’s throw of 30-feet, 7-inches in 2022.
Other gold medals secured in the meet included Nadirah Gilliam of Druid Hills in the 1600-meter run (5:50.05), Martin Luther King Jr’s win in the 4×800-meter relay (11:05.90) and Lakeside’s Libby Rountree in the pole vault (7-00.00).
See links below for the final JV results, records and history:
2024 DCSD JV Track Championship Results