The 2022 GHSA Track and Field State Championships are less than a month away (May 12-14) and those will be at four separate locations, with A Public and 4A (Hugh Mills Stadium), A Private and 7A (McEachern), 3A, 6A and Adapted (Grisham Stadium) and 2A and 5A (Kinnett) divided into the different venues.
The County Championships meets took place three weekends ago and this past weekend with Alexander sweeping the Douglas County Championships. The Region/Area schedule will consume this week’s schedule ahead of the sectionals that will take place the following weekend on May 7.
Athletes across the state have performed at a level that has put Georgia on the map nationally this season, and the latest superstar to brighten the spotlight has been Brunswick junior high jumper Riyon Rankin, who competed on the Pirates basketball team this past winter.
Rankin finished the 2021 track season with a third-place 6-foot-6 leap in the high jump at state, which was shy of his season-best 6-8. A bronze finish as a sophomore was a promising result, and Rankin has surpassed that mark this season in spectacular fashion.
Rankin’s breakout campaign started in March when he cleared 7 feet at Glynn Academy’s home meet. That jump remains the best jump by a varsity athlete anywhere in the nation this season.
“It’s just dedication to wanting to be great,” Pirates coach Brian Edwards told The Brunswick News.
The track season started two weeks after basketball season ended, and Rankin opened the year with a 6-8 jump at the Richmond Hill meet. Two meets later, Rankin set this year’s national best.
Edwards is proud of how Rankin has dedicated his time and energy into maximizing his abilities.
Rankin matched his own record this past weekend and cleared 7-0 again to win the Region 2-6A high jump, granting him more attention and opening opportunities to possibly represent the United States in the Olympics if his trajectory continues.
As for the other standout performances last weekend, Ridgeland’s Logan Montgomery took the Region 7-4A championship in the shot put with a 65-2, marking the fifth-best throw in state history. Dunwoody’s Alon Rogow cleared 16-1 in the pole vault to take the Region 7-7A title. On the track, Southwest DeKalb 4x400-meter relay team clocked a blazing 3:14.33 to take the Region 5-5A title, and the Panthers will have their sights set on the state championship next month.
On the girls side, Jonesboro’s Yahnari Lyons dominated the Clayton County Championships by taking first place in the 100-meter dash, 110 hurdles and the 200 (11.69, 13.90, 23.80). Westlake’s Collen Branch took the 200 and 100 at the Region 4-6A championships with a 23.79 and 11.96. Branch bested Lyons by a hundredth of a second in the 200, while Lyons got the faster time in the 100. These two superstars will likely square off in the Class 6A championships.
