
The Cedar Grove Middle School Saints track team won its first DeKalb/APS Middle School Track Challenge title to give DeKalb a sweep of the event.
The Cedar Grove Saints pulled out a 54-50 win over Sutton in the boys’ section of the DeKalb/Atlanta Public Schools Middle School Track Challenge held recently at Lakewood Stadium in Atlanta.
A strong performance in the relay events helped fuel the Saints to win including a victory in the 4×200-meter relay (1:37.85) and second in both the 4×100-meter (46.91) and 4×800-meter (10:31.23) relays.
Jaiden Mincey’s second place finish in the shot put (40-08.50) and a bronze medal for Daysean Moses in the 400-meter dash (57.73) aided the title run.
It is Cedar Grove’s first win in the Challenge and a fourth consecutive victory for DeKalb. Atlanta’s Sutton finished second for the second time in three years of competition.
Sutton’s second place finish was led by Adyn Jackson who brought home a gold in the 400-meter dash (54.67) and a bronze in the 200-meter dash (24.17).
The Chamblee Bulldogs claimed third with 44 points led by silver medal finishes in the 400-meter dash by Damien Gracia (56.73) and the 4×400-meter relay (4:03.06).
Kipp Atlanta East finished fourth overall with 37 points led by the 4×100-meter relay team of Chad Nelson, Jameel Freeman, Chance Strickland and Antonio Bell with a time of 46.89.
Redan picked up a gold in the 4×400-meter relay as the team of Benjamin Jackson, Emmanuel Faison, Malachi Smith and Jayden Sumbry ran a time of 3:54.50 and grabbed silver in the 4×200-meter relay (1:40.11) to finish fifth overall.
Tucker’s seventh place finish was keyed by gold medal winning performances by Jeremiah Tillman in the 200-meter dash (23.97) and Bryston Maxwell in the long jump (17:11.00).
Lithonia was just behind Tucker also picking up two gold medals with a win by Timothy Behing in the 100-meter hurdles with a record setting time of 14.33 to break the mark of 14.40 set by Drew Charter’s Cyrus Martin a year ago. The second gold for Lithonia came in the 4×800-meter relay (10:16.56.10).
Atlanta’s Howard pulled in a pair of gold medals as well with wins by Vihaan Devireddy in the 800-meter run (2:13.06) and Dylan Smith breaking the record of 5:21.29 set by Druid Hill’s Jackson Taylor in 2023 with a time of 5:19.31.
Atlanta’s Martin Luther King Jr. snatched a gold in the high as Justin Howard leapt 5-09.00 to break the old mark of 5-02.00 set by Sutton’s Sire Razi in 2023.
Rounding out the gold medal finishes were Champion’s Steven Lewis in the shot put (42-06.00) and Atlanta’s Chauncey Bailey of Centennial Academy in the 100-meter dash (11.30).
See links below for DeKalb/APS Middle School Track Challenge results/records: