Area teams place high at weekend meets
The Heritage High School track teams traveled to Dalton High School on Saturday for the annual Dalton Rotary Invitational. The Generals would place third out of 10 teams in the boys’ meet, while the Lady Generals were a solid fifth in a very good nine-team field.
The Heritage boys had one individual winner in Collin Black, who crossed the tape in 53.23 seconds to win the 400 meters.
Eli Owens was second in the high jump and Gavin Chandler finished second in the 3200, while Chandler also took fourth in the 1600 later in the day.
Third-place finishers included Antwaun Powell in the long jump, Jared Phillips in the triple jump and Jonathan Washburn in the shot put. Washburn also placed fifth in the discus.
Brandon Hamilton was fourth in both the 110 hurdles and the 300 hurdles. Chandler Bailey was fourth in the pole vault and the Generals’ 4x800 relay team also placed fourth. Paxton McCrary picked up fifth-place points in the 200.
Heritage’s 87 points were only two in back of runner-up Dalton (89), while Cass won the meet with 102 points.
As for the Lady Generals, Gracie Murray placed first in the 300 hurdles. She clocked in at 49.82 and was the only female to break 50 seconds in the event. Murray also finished runner-up in the 100 hurdles.
Tayler Coleman was second in the discus and Harper Carstens took second in the high jump on a jump-off tiebreaker against teammate Caroline Hamilton, who had to settle for third.
Riley Kokinda was third in the long jump and the Lady Generals took third in the 4x800. Avah Morrison was third in the shot put and fourth in the discus. Zandy Burton also placed fourth in the 400, while Heritage also took fourth in the 4x400. Paige Monroe was fifth in the pole vault.
The Lady Generals finished with 86.5 points. Dalton took first place with 121 points, followed by Signal Mountain (101), Cleveland (98) and Woodland (89).
Brown wins twice for Gordon Lee
Lady Trojan senior Kaylee Brown continued to add to her impressive track resume on Saturday with two more individual event wins at the Mohawk-warrior Invitational at Gordon Central High School.
Brown cleared 9-feet, 6-inches in the pole vault to win the event on a tiebreaker before clearing the bar at 5-0 to take first place in the high jump.
Those wins, combined with nine other top four finishes, helped the Navy-and-white finish third overall in the 10team field with 91.5 points. Gordon Lee trailed only Kennesaw Mountain (117) and
Franklin County (105) in the final standings.
Addison Sturdivant was runner-up in both the 100 hurdles and the 300 hurdles. Haley Hartman took second place in the 3200, while the Lady Trojans’ 4x400 team also finished second.
Riley Shirley and Abbey Dunfee finished third and fourth, respectively, in the long jump, while Emma Phillips and Shirley were third and fourth, respectively, in the triple jump. Gordon Lee’s 4x100 team also placed fourth.
Hartman crossed the line in sixth place in the 1600, while Ansley Dendy was sixth in the pole vault. Dunfee was seventh in both the 100 and 200 and Cora Fehr tied for eighth in the 400.
The Trojans’ best finish came from Justin Cruise, who was runner-up in the shot put. Christian Howard was fourth in the high jump and Luke Taylor was fourth in the 3200.
Fifth-place finishers featured Penn Askew in the 300 hurdles and Conner Whitman in the pole vault. Hunter Stephens (long jump) and Levi Helton (pole vault) both finished sixth. Carson Carpenter was seventh in the 3200. Gordon Lee’s 4x800 team was also seventh and the 4x100 team finished eighth.
In the final team standings, Gordon Lee was ninth with 36.5 points. Kennesaw Mountain won the boys’ title with 116.5 points, followed by Riverdale (100) and Gordon Central (82.5).