The Stephenson Jaguars (top) and Tucker Tigers (bottom) battled to a 126-126 tie to share the 2024 Napoleon Cobb DeKalb County Boys’ Track and Field Championships title. (Photos by Mark Brock)
The 2024 DeKalb County Napoleon Cobb Boys’ Track and Field Championships title came down to the last event of the day with Stephenson closing in on Tucker to tie for the title on finals day at William “Buck” Godfrey Stadium.
Tucker had led since the conclusion of the field events while Stephenson was hanging around in third throughout finals day. Going into the 4×400-meter relay to finish the meet, Tucker held a slim 120-116 lead.
Stephenson which won the 4×100-meter relay (41.18) was lined up in lane four with the best time (3:23.09) in the prelims and Tucker was in lane 6 and owned the gold in the 4×200-meter relay (1:26.75). The Jaguars needed to win by four to tie and five to win outright while Tucker staying within three points would win the title outright.
Stephenson got out to a big lead and cruised in for the gold medal with a time of 3:18.03 to collect the 10 points. Tucker dropped as far back as sixth and was in danger of losing its first title since 1950 as anchor Ian Hodge rounded the second turn. Hodge, who signed to run track at the University of Georgia, hit another gear coming around the curve in the final 200 meters to get the Tigers into third with a time of 3:25.88, just .26 behind runner-up Southwest DeKalb.
The effort by Hodge kept the Tigers in first place tied with the Jaguars with 126 points.
Coach Lonnie Jones’ Tigers got out to the early points lead behind gold medals from Hodge in the high jump (6-08.00, just an inch shy of the 1993 record) and John Pacely in the shot put (52.-04.00). Pacely added a silver in the discus (144-03). Hodge also added a bronze medal in the 400-meter dash (48.24). A second place silver for Hasaan Sykes in the long jump (23-06.00) also added to the early total.
The win in the 4×200 relay coupled by runner-up finishes in the 100-meter (10.67) and 200-meter (21.77) dashes by Christian Whitmore aided the Tuckers’ lead heading into the final event.
Tucker closed out the day with 19 Top 8 finishes and 14 medals (3 gold, 5 silver, 6 bronze).
Two of the key players in the tie for the boys’ title were Stephenson’s Ca’Von Lucas (left) and Tucker’s Christian Whitmore (middle) as they came in behind meet MVP Ali Dargan of Miller Grove in the 100-meter dash. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Coach Donald Sellers’ Jaguars were lurking in third place most of finals’ day paced by the 4×100-meter relay win and a record setting win in the 400-meter dash by Todd Burton (46.92) as he broke the 27-year old record of 46.98 held by Southwest DeKalb’s Eddie Miller from 1987.
Colin Seals finished with the silver in the 400 (47.23) and Steven Brown (49.77) was fourth as the Jaguars picked up a huge 23 points to close the gap on the Tigers to seven. A 3-4-5 finish in the 200-meter dash led by Steven Brown’s bronze medal (21.84) and followed by Devin Ingram (22.15) and Collin Seals (22.40) collected 15 more points to draw the Jaguars within four (120-116) with the 4×400 relay on tap to finish the meet.
Stephenson finished the day with 25 Top 8 finishes including 10 medals (3 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze).
The Martin Luther King Jr. Lions tallied 94.50 points to finish third overall with 18 Top 8 finishes and eight medals (1 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze). The 4×800-meter relay team of Kamerson Sutton, Braylin Grier, Jordan Saunders and Omari Sawyer claimed the Lions’ only gold medal winning the race in a time of 3:18.03.
Dunwoody claimed fourth place in the standings with 14 Top 8 finishes including eight medals (3 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze) to tally 78 points. Two of the Wildcat’s gold medals went to Blake Williams in the 110-meter hurdles (14.58.10) and 300-meter hurdles (37.83). Aaron Laffoon added a gold in the discus with a toss of 151-07.
Miller Grove’s Ali Dargan was named the meet’s MVP following his second consecutive sweep of the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Miller Grove came in fifth in the team standings with 56 points on the back of a sweep of the 100-meter (10.55) and 200-meter (21.02) dashes by senior Ali Dargan. Dargan swept the fastest man events for the second consecutive season and was selected as the Napoleon Cobb Most Valuable Runner. He was presented the award by the late Coach Cobb’s son, Jabari Cobb.
Clarkston finished eight overall in the meet but picked up three gold medals along the way. Abenezer Woellore collected two of the gold medals by winning the 800-meter run (1:57.00) and the 1600-meter run (4:28.40). Damian Powell gave the Angoras their third gold medal with his win in the triple jump (44-05.00).
Cedar Grove’s Lakhi Roland made a big debut in the long jump as he broke the 15-yard mark of 24-08.25 held by Miller Grove’s Stephen Hill by the barest of margins of .25 inches with a leap of 24-08.50. Cedar Grove was sixth overall.
Other gold medals went to Chamblee’s Matthew Coates in the 3200-meter run (9:29.62) and Lakeside’s Alex Katsoudas in the pole vault (12-06.00). Both participants won their respective event a year ago to become repeat champions.
Tucker’s Lonnie Jones was named Boys’ Track Coach of the Year and his staff was recognized for their hard work in contributing to the team’s performance. Tucker won its first DeKalb County Championships title since 1950 and improved from third in 2023.
See links below for full results and updated meet records: