Six Georgia track athletes have been selected American Family Insurance/USA Today All Americans, with four receiving first team honors.
For the boys team, recent Our Lady of Mercy graduate Christian Coleman, St. Pius grad Daniel Haugh and Pace Academy alum Kenny Selmon were all selected to the first team. For the girls team, Rockdale County rising sophomore Candace Hill made the first team, while Miller Grove graduate Tiffany Flynn and Forest Park rising senior Bria Matthews earned second team honors.
Coleman, a Tennessee signee, was among five first-team sprinters selected by USA Today. His top times this season are 10.29 seconds in the 100 meters, fifth fastest in the nation, and 20.94 in the 200 meters, which is in the top 15 nationally. This season, Coleman set three Georgia Class A state records (100 and 200 meters, 400-meter relay), was the Most Outstanding Performer at the Georgia Olympics, was voted the Atlanta Track Club’s Male Athlete of the Year, and won the 100 meters last month at the Brooks PR Invitational in Seattle.
Haugh, who will compete for Alabama, was listed among five first team throwers. His discus toss of 204-feet, 1 inch and hammer throw of 221-5, both rank No. 4 in the nation. Haugh won the Class AAA discus and shot put titles the past two seasons and won the discus title last month at the New Balance Outdoor Championships in Greensboro, N.C.
Selmon, who will run for North Carolina, was among the four first-team hurdlers on the USA Today list. He is running for Team USA this week in the IAAF Junior Outdoor World Championships after running 50.13 in the 400-meter hurdles at the Junior World Team trials earlier this month, the fastest time in the nation for a high schooler this season. He was the Class A 300-meter and 110-meter state champion, the Gatorade Track Athlete of the Year in Georgia, and won the 400-meter title last month at the New Balance Outdoor Championships.
Hill was among four first-team sprinters. She won Class AAAAAA state titles in the 100 and 200, and swept both events at the New Balance Outdoors and the Golden West Invitational in Sacramento. She was voted the Atlanta Track Club’s 100-meter Sprinter of the Year, and is ranked in the top five nationally in both the 100 and 200 meters.
Flynn and Matthews were the two members of the USA Today horizontal jumpers second team. Flynn, who will compete for Mississippi State, was the Class AAAAA high point performer at the state meet, where she led Miller Grove to the team title by winning the 100-meter hurdles, the long jump and the triple jump, where her leap of 41-11 set a Class AAAAA record and ranks her No. 4 in the nation. Matthews, who also competes for the Panthers’ basketball team, finished second to Flynn in the state meet, but jumped 41-11 ¼ earlier this month to claim the No. 3 spot in the nation.
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