The Southwest DeKalb Panthers completed a repeat as the Napoleon Cobb DCSD Track and Field champions with a dramatic finish.
A record-setting finish in the final event of the day propelled the Southwest DeKalb Panthers to their 18th Napoleon Cobb DeKalb County Track and Field Championships and their second consecutive title in the event named in honor of the legendary Southwest DeKalb coach this year.
Two of the key competitors in the Panthers big day on the track were Isaiah and Xzaviah Taylor, twin sons of former Southwest DeKalb and Olympic champion Angelo Taylor who was coached by Cobb in the 1990s.
Southwest DeKalb was in eighth place with 16 points, 35 points behind leaders Decatur and Tucker both with 51, as the teams hit the Buck Godfrey track on Monday afternoon.
Isaiah Taylor knocked .69 of a second off his preliminary time to win the 110-meter hurdles in 14.02 to kick-start the Panthers climb to the title.
He then joined his brother, Xzaviah, and teammates Therrian Alexander III and Xavier Turner to retake their record in the 4×200-meter relay winning by over two seconds over Stephenson with a time of 1:25.36. Miller Grove had erased Southwest’s record of 1:27.26 set a year ago with a time of 1:26.21 in the preliminaries.
Following the relay, the Panthers would win the next two events and score 34 points to briefly move into first in the points standings 70-67. Xzaviah Taylor(47.91), Alexander (48.35) and Xavier Turner (49.04) went one-two-three in the 400-meter dash and Isaiah Taylor captured the 300-meter hurdles in 36.76.
William Carlton put Decatur in front again with a win in the 800-meter run (1:54.36) and the Panthers answered with 10 points in the 200-meter dash with Xzaviah Taylor’s third place finish (21.74) and Alexander taking fifth (22.23) to take an 81-77 lead heading into the final two events, the 3200-meter run and the 4×400-meter relay.
Decatur had two runners in the 3200 that finished second and seventh to pick up 10 points to take an 87-81 lead as Southwest DeKalb had no runners finish in the points for the event.
Southwest DeKalb’s Isaiah Taylor (left) swept the hurdle events. He outdistanced Dunwoody’s Blake Williams for the gold in the 110 hurdles. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Southwest DeKalb entered the 4×400 needing at least a second-place finish to win the meet outright as Decatur had no entry in the event. The Panthers left nothing to chance setting a meet record as the Taylors, Alexander and Turner took the gold and the championship title in 3:12.07. They broke the record of 3:14.49 held by Cedar Grove set in 2009.
Decatur’s second place finish included gold medals from Royal Washington in the high jump (6-07.00) and Carlton in the 1600-meter run (4:24.52). Zakariye Abulahi was second in the 1600 (4:27.77) and Washington took second in the triple jump (44-08.00).
Third place Tucker (81) got gold medals in the discus by John Pacely (148-09.75), Hasaan Sykes in the long jump (22-01.50) and the 4×100 team of Jordan McCoy, Ethan Sanders, Evan Ffrench and Christian Whitmore ran a 41.41 to take the gold.
Martin Luther King finished fourth overall led a second-place finish in the high jump by Taybrean Petty (6-02.00) and individual third place finishes by Omari Sawyer in the 800-meter run (1:56.16) and Israel Cubas in the triple jump (43-04.00). the Lions also picked up bronze medals in the 4×200 and 4×800 relays.
Stephenson grabbed six silver medals on the way to its 65 points and fifth place finish in the standings led by Jace Coleman in the 100 (10.89) and 200 (21.60) and Kwabena Flowers in the 300 hurdles (40.57). Stephenson picked up three second place finishes in the relays including the 4×100, 4×200 and 4×400.
Miller Grove’s Ali Dargan set one record in racing to wins in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Dargan broke the 200 record of 20.98 held by Cline Crenshaw (1998) and Kenneth Gilstrap (2009) getting under the record in 20.95. He had won the 100 in 10.60.
Southwest DeKalb’s Isaiah Taylor was named the Napoleon Cobb Most Valuable Award winner after winning both hurdle events and being part of two record setting relay teams.
Chamblee got off to a quick start to the meet as Elijah Powell won the triple jump (44-09.00) and the relay team of Carson Rea, Daniel Mata, Matthew Coates and William Elder winning the 4×800 relay (8:08.97). Coates added a gold in the 3200-meter run (9:42.18) and Elder a silver in the 800-meter run (1:54.76).
Cedar Grove picked up 18 points in the shot put as Jayln Slaughter won the event with a toss of 50-feet, 5 inches and Solomon Hall was second (49-04.00).
Lakeside finished one-two in the pole vault led by Alex Katsoudas (12-04.00) and followed by Jason Arendt (11-10.00).
Southwest DeKalb’s Isaiah Taylor was named the meet’s Napoleon Cobb Most Valuable Runner winning the 110 and 300 hurdles and being part of two record setting relay teams.
See links below for complete Napoleon Cobb DCSD Track and Field Championships results and records: