Westlake High School hosted the Christian Coleman Invitational 2023 on Saturday and the host Lions dominated the field with a top score of 154. Grovetown (69), Landmark Christian (66), Woodland-Stockbridge (65.5), Hillgrove (63), Eagle’s Landing (52), Shiloh (49), South Cobb (48), Druid Hills (38) and Ola (33) also finished in the top 10. Landmark Christian junior Turner Guerard earned the Eagles 10 points with her first-place finish in the 3200 meter 12:59.29 and picked up five points with a fourth-place finish in the 1600 meter. South Cobb sophomore Destinee Frank earned first in the 1600 meter and posted a Georgia top 50 time in the process with a 5:23.02 finish. Hillgrove’s relay team of Amare Garrett, Christina Joseph, Morgan Gordon and Ryan Davis earned first place in the thrilling 4x100 meter relay with a 45.58 and Westlake’s team of Jaden Billings, Caylie Jefferson, Zaniyah Jones and Adyn Kinard finished runner-up with a 46.49. Billings posted a USA Top 25 time of 14.10 in the 100 meter hurdles to earn first-place and Jones finished runner-up to her junior teammate with a 15.16 Georgia Top 25 mark—giving the Lions 18 points to fuel their 154 team score. Billings (44.86) and Jones (44.94) posted top 10 Georgia times in the 300 meter and sophomore teammate Zhai Holmes finished fourth with a 45.67 to make it a 23-point event for the Lions.
On the boys side, Shiloh took the Invitational with 124.50 total points. The Generals outclassed and doubled the totals of runner-up Westlake (66), Southwest DeKalb (54), Landmark Christian (50) and Hillgrove (49). The 110 meter hurdles saw nationally-recognized times being posted as Lovejoy’s Kalib Branch clocked a USA Top 10 time of 13.84. Shiloh’s George Benjamin (13.95) and Bruce Southerland (14.07) finished second and third and were USA Top 10 and Top 25 times, respectively. Southwest DeKalb senior Xzaviah Taylor won the 300 meter hurdles with a USA Top 25 time of 37.94—narrowly edging Benjamin’s 38.1. Benjamin’s senior teammate Eric Barker earned a fifth-place finish with a Georgia Top 10 time of 39.03 and profited an additional four points to Benjamin’s eight points. Westlake won the 4x100 meter relay with its team of Avieon Terrell, Sidi Nije, Ji’den Thomas and Antwan Smith (40.40) and topped Southwest DeKalb, Hillgrove and fourth-place Shiloh. Terrell, Keyari Thompson, Nasir Preston and Nijie dominated that 4x400 meter relay as well with a 3:15.87 finish—edging second-place Lanmark Christian’s 3:26.80. In the Triple Jump, Shiloh junior Marcus Thompson achieved a Georgia Top 10 mark and personal best with a first-place 45-6—which came on his second attempt. Thompson was one of seven athletes that hit personal bests on Saturday—including third-place Seth Thomas of Hillgrove (44-5) and Westlake’s Hollis Morton (44-5).
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