The Druid Hills Lady Red Devils rallied from sixth place to win their second consecutive DeKalb County Girls’ Track and Field Championships title. They set two records and won five gold medals. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Five gold medals and two new DeKalb County track and field records were part Coach Henrietta George’s Druid Hills Lady Red Devils’ run to a second consecutive DeKalb County Track and Field Championships title this week at William “Buck” Godfrey Stadium.
Druid Hills scored 86 points on the second day of competition to climb from sixth place after garnering 18 points in three events during the field events, 3200-meter run and 4×800-meter relay. Druid Hills won its first-ever county title a year ago.
Chamblee had 58 points heading into the track finals to top the girls’ standings and maintained the lead until the next to last event, the 200-meter dash, when Druid Hills scored 23 points to take the lead at 104-88 heading into the final event.
The 200 featured a 1-2 finish of twin sisters Sanaa Frederick (23.24) and Sole Frederick (23.34) as both surpassed Sanaa’s 2023 meet record of 23.45. Delali Setrana finished fourth in the event giving the Lady Devils 14 Top 8 finishes that included five gold medals, four silver and one bronze for the meet.
Sanaa Frederick also broke her own 100-meter dash record of 11.46 set a year ago with a time of 11.40 in the preliminaries on Saturday and won the gold in the finals with a time of 11.49. Sole Frederick (11.67) also got the silver in the 100 giving her four individual silver medals in two years. The wins in the finals made Sanaa a seven-time gold medal winner in the county championships winning four consecutive 100-meter titles and three consecutive 200-meter titles. She finished second in the 200 as a freshman.
Setrana also took fourth in the 100 to give Druid Hills another 23 points in one event as the two events accounted for 46 of the team’s 86 points on the day.
Harley Martz finished out her career at the championships with a gold medal in the 800-meter run (2:21.19) for her third gold in four seasons. Martz also won gold in the 1600-meter run in 2023 and the 3200-meter run in 2021 giving her a win in each event. She finished with silver medals in both the 1600 (5:13.53) and the 3200 (11:58.41) giving her four total silver medals in the championships including silvers in the 1600 and 800 in 2021. She also picked up a bronze in the 3200 in 2023 for eight Top 3 finishes overall. Martz’s performance totaled 26 points for Druid Hills.
Druid Hills Sole Frederick (left) and Sanaa Frederick both ran record breaking times in the 200-meter dash with Sanaa getting the nod by 0.10 seconds. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Jadyn Bolden picked up another gold medal for Druid Hills as she won the 400-meter dash (57.11) after finished fourth a year ago.
The final gold medal for the Lady Red Devils came in the 4×100-meter relay as the team of Sanaa Frederick, Jadyn Bolden, Delali Setrana and Sole Frederick finished first with a time of 45.92.
Miya Carthan added a bronze medal in the long jump (17-05.00) as six of the 18 points gathered on the opening day.
Chamblee had a strong first day that kept them in first place up until the last two events before the strong finish by Druid Hills pushed the Lady Bulldogs into the runner-up spot. The Lady Bulldogs finished with 19 Top 8 finishes including seven medals (3 gold) in the meet.
A 1-2 finish in the pole vault garnered 18 points as Amelia DeWeese (9-06.00) vaulted to the gold medal and Emi Sarago (9-06.00) was second due to more attempts at the height. Lily Harris added two more points in the event with a seventh-place finish (7-06.00).
Kate Sarago leapt to the gold in the long jump (18-03.50) and finished with a bronze in the triple jump (35-0.00) to contribute 16 points to the Lady Bulldogs’ cause.
The last big push of the opening day for Chamblee came in the 4×800-meter relay as the squad of Madeline Harron, Shea Fagan, Abigail Mueller and Leanna Maender ran to the gold with a time of 10:08.44. A 2-3 finish by Harron (2:25.85) and Maender (2:27.28) in the 800-meter run kept Chamblee in the running for the title on finals day.
The Tucker Lady Tigers (68) claimed third place in the meet with 16 Top 8 finishes and five medals (2 gold, 3 bronze). The two gold medals came from Kristan Simmons in the shot put (36-11.00) and the discus (121-11). She had finished second in the discus and third in the shot last season. Freshman Tamiya Swinson added bronze medals finishes in the 100 (11.98) and the 200 (24.98) to go with a bronze in the 4×800 relay (10:20.11).
Martin Luther King hurdler India Thorpe was named the MVP of the girls’ meet after winning both hurdle events and finishing third in the high jump. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Miller Grove put up 14 Top 8 finishes that included four silver medals to take fourth place overall with 61.50 points. Individual silver medals came from Jillian Kidd in the 100-meter hurdles (15.00), Zy’Riah Adams in the high jump (4-10.00) and Taniyah Scott in the long jump (17-06.50). Miller Grove also picked up a silver in the highly contested 4×200-meter relay (1:44.57).
Dunwoody and Martin Luther King tied for fifth with 60.50 points each. King had 12 Top 8 finishes that included three gold medals. They were led by meet MVP India Thorpe who ran to the gold in the 100-meter (14.95) and 300-meter (44.93) hurdles and a third place finish in the high jump (4-10.00).
Dunwoody’s 10 Top finishes featured two record setting performances by senior Claire Shelton as she broke the 3200-meter and 1600-meter run records held by Chamblee’s Emily Reese since 2006 and 2007, respectively. Shelton ran the 3200 in a new record time of 10:38.41 (Reese, 10:55.58, 2006) and the 1600 in 4:54.36 (Reese, 4:55.80, 2007). Kaz McLoughlin finished second in both the shot (33-06.00) and just behind the winner (121-11-00) in the discus (121-10.75).
Three other gold medal winners include Arabia Mountain’s Ololade Caulker in the high jump (4-10.00), Towers’ Nashari Edwards in the triple jump (36-06.00) and Cedar Grove’s 4×200-meter relay team of Waynijah Kuykendal, Victoria Taylor, Savannah Sutton and Kristen Robinson in a time of 1:44.29.
Towers girls’ track coach Clifton Gordan was named Girls’ Coach of the Year and his staff was recognized for their hard work in contributing to the team’s performance. Towers had 10 Top 8 finishes including one gold medal and two bronze medals.
See links below for full results and updated meet records: