ALBANY — The mother of M.L. King sprinter Felicia Brown sports a T-shirt that unabashedly declares, "Boys' mothers don't like my daughter because she's FAST."
While being a “fast” young lady won’t help you win over many mothers, it definitely will help you win a state track title.
Brown and her teammates did just that Saturday, claiming the Class AAAAA title at the girls state track-and-field championships at Albany’s Hugh Mills Stadium. It is the first state title for the Lithonia school, which has built one of the state’s more formidable athletic programs in just a decade of existence.
The Lions finished second to perennial track power Westlake two weeks ago in the Region 2-AAAAA championships, but won the state title by a comfortable margin over the south Fulton school Saturday. M.L. King was powered by Brown’s victory in the 400 meters (54.94 seconds), wins in the 100 and 200 meters by sophomore Jada Martin and victories in the 400 and 1,600 meter relays.
“All of our girls are track girls, they’re veterans. They knew [Westlake] didn’t beat us on the track, they beat us with points in the field,” M.L. King coach Brandi Bush said. “We knew other teams would help us in the field here at state, so we just needed to handle our business on the track.”
Still, Brown said the loss at region served as motivation, as did the thought of winning the school’s first state championship. “We still felt like we should have beaten them at region, even with the points they got in the field events,” said Brown, a junior. “[Losing] bothered us. But we felt like God gave us a second chance, and we took advantage of it.”
In AAAA, Southwest DeKalb reclaimed the title after slipping last season. The Panthers, winners of four of the past five state championships, won easily over Lakeside-DeKalb and Dutchtown. Southwest DeKalb was led by Morgan Snow, who placed second in the 100 meters and the 100 meter hurdles, and the 400-meter relay team, which took first (47.14).
“[Not winning last season] was motivation for us,” Panthers coach Antoinette Tyrell said. “We have ‘Reclaim’ on the back of our T-shirts because that was our goal. The girls went out and worked hard. They expect to win.”
In AAA, host school Monroe-Albany won its third consecutive championship. The Tornados, were paced by Mimi Land, who swept the jumping events (long, triple and high) Friday, and Maikea Davis, who won the 400 meters (55.71) and placed second in the 200 meters (24.28). Their 400 (47.83) and 1,600 (3:55.58) relay teams placed first and second, respectively.
In AA, Decatur’s 1,600-meter relay team provided the winning margin over Therrell. Entering the event, the final event of the meet, Decatur and Therrell were battling for first with Crawford County. Decatur won the event in a time of 3:56.97 to Therrell’s second-place finish at 3:59.99. The resulting 10 points for first place gave Decatur its second girls track championship. The Bulldogs also won in 2006.
In Class A, Athens Christian completed a sweep in track and field, as the girls duplicated the boys win last week in Jefferson. The Eagles were led by junior Destiny Jenkins, who won the 800- and 1,600-meter titles.
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