The 2024 GHSA Track is heating up and will be the second half of last year’s historic season that reshuffled the classifications and led to first-time state champs and new rivalries. The month of March has offered a forecast for this season’s top contenders and the Kell boys reached the podium in several events. At the Erin Marsh Invitational on March 2 at Buford, the Longhorns dominated the Long Jump with a clean sweep. Senior Marqavious Saboor earned first with a 22-0.50, junior Jaden George landed a personal record 21-0 for second place and Longhorns’ senior Kamari Nix earned third place with a personal record 20-1. Saboor is a Cincinatti football-commit and his personal best for the long jump is 22-6. He placed fourth in state in the Triple Jump last year and made headlines this month with a personal record 47-6 jump. That mark places him in the top 25 nationally.
Etowah’s Luke Stradley has the top mark this season in the Long Jump and he landed a 24-1 last week. The Carrollton boys clocked a 17:42.57 in the 4x1600 meter relay to achieve the fifth-fastest time in state history and the defending state champion Hughes Panthers clocked the seventh-fastest 4x100 meter relay time with a 40.59.
The Woodward Academy girls clocked a 3:43.30 time in the 4x400 meter relay, which is the fifth-fastest time in state history. The Pace Academy girls also made history with a 20:54.63 time in the 4x1600 relay and that stands as the sixth-best in state history. Druid Hills’ Sole Frederick was a part of her team’s 4x100 relay team that set a state record with a 44.84 time and she also clocked a 11.43 100 meter time and a 23.27 200 meter time. Frederick’s 100-meter time ranked No. 7 all-time and her 200-meter time ranks No. 8 all-time—resulting in one of the most successful meet performances of this season.
Last year, Westlake swept Class 7A state titles for the second time in state history (2017). The boys were fueled by top finishes in the 4×100 relay, 400 meter dash and 4×100 relay to accrue 60 total points—edging second-place Walton and Buford—who tied with 46 points each. The girls accumulated 73.33 points to top second-place Marietta’s 70 and Brookwood’s 62. This is Westlake’s third all-time boys state title and seventh girls title. In Class 6A, the Hughes boys won their first-ever state title and the Woodward Academy girls captured their fourth all-time title and second since 2021.
The Dutchtown boys dominated Class 5A with 99 points to runner-up Tucker’s 51 and got top finishes in the 4×100 meter and 4×200 meter relays. Greater Atlanta Christian took the girls title with 61 points and won the program’s fifth all-time state title in the process. Defending state champion Southwest DeKalb won its 12th all-time state title in Class 4A and the Westminster girls also defended their title and won their fourth championship.
In Class 3A, the Sandy Creek girls won their first-ever state title and allowed the Patriots to sweep for the first-time in history as the boys picked up their fourth all-time championship and first since 2015. Class 2A saw Athens Academy win its first-ever boys state title, while Landmark Christian captured its ninth state crown. The Mt. Pisgah boys took Class A Division I for their first-ever championship and Athens Christian won its fourth all-time boys championship. Class A Division II was swept by Montgomery County as the boys won a third all-time title and the Lady Eagles captured their first in program history.
This season has already showcased emergent stars and the Druid Hills relay team opened the month of March with a record-setting performance at the MTFXCCGA Invitational at McEachern. The Westlake girls earned a top finish with 69 points and were closely trailed by Hillgrove (68.07) and North Atlanta (61.07). On the boys side, Hughes (98) earned first and topped Shiloh (85) and Tucker (81). Druid Hills set a new state-record in the 4x100 meter with a 45.14 finish and then lowered its record at the Christian Coleman Invitational with a 44.84. The Druid Hills girls earned a runner-up finish at state last year in Class 4A to Westminster. Sanaa Frederick was a huge part of Druid Hill’s strong season and has since graduated and enrolled to run track at UGA. Westminster returns senior Grace Smith—a USC-commit- that won state in the 110 and 330 meter hurdles last season.
The Mill Creek girls and Brookwood boys took first in the North Gwinnett Twilight track and field meet on Saturday. Mill Creek won the girls division with 222 points, well ahead of runner-up St. Pius’ 112. North was third at 104. Brookwood’s boys tallied 166 points to get past runner-up Denmark’s 158 and third-place Mill Creek’s 138. North was fourth at 119. First-place finishers for the Mill Creek boys were the 400 relay (41.93), Lawson Kary (110 hurdles, 16.26), Jeremiah Schine (discus, 135-8) and Holden Cammarata (3,200, 10:01.59). Collins Hill’s Jameson Pifer won the boys 1,600 (4:17.26) and North’s Haydn Hermansen won the boys 800 (2:00.23).
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