Black leaves his mark in Albany
A little bit of history was made this past Thursday as junior high jumper J.D. Black became the first Heritage High School boys’ athlete to win an individual state track championship.
Black tied his own school record with a mark of 6-feet, 8-inches on the first day of the Class AAAA state championships at Hugh Mills Stadium in Albany.
Black and Domonik Henderson of nearby Monroe-albany were the last two competitors left standing as the bar reached 6-8. Northwest Whitfield standout and Region 7-AAAA champion Silas Griffin, who had cleared 6-10 earlier this season, was successful at 6-6, but missed all three of his attempts at 6-8, leaving Black and Henderson to battle it out.
Henderson finally cleared 6-8 on his third and final attempt at the height, but Black got over the bar on his second try and both jumpers missed all three of their attempts at 6-10.
With the tiebreaker reverting back to 6-8, Black was declared the state champ on fewest misses at that height.
He also became just the second Heritage High School athlete to ever win a state championship in track, joining Raleigh Lewis, who won girls’ discus in 2018.
Harper Carstens almost joined Black atop the podium in the girls’ high jump. However, the sophomore would end up in a tie for second place with Jazmine Walker of Baldwin after both cleared 5-0.
They finished behind Angelina Casey of Pickens, who won at 5-2. Caroline Hamilton of Heritage also cleared 5-0, but was relegated to sixth place after the tiebreakers were put into place.
Another sophomore, Avah Morrison, threw the discus 114-8 on her first attempt and that effort eventually earned her third place. Raven Williams of Bainbridge won the event with a toss of 117-1 on her final attempt.
Hamilton also competed in the pole vault finals on
Thursday and cleared 8-0, but that height was only good enough for 10th place on the day.
Heritage attempted to make the finals in two different events on Friday, but came up short both times.
In the girls’ meet, the team of Aaliyah Rodgers, Kylie Campbell, Maliah Mckibben and Zandy Burton ran a 4:17.53 in the 4x400, but did not finish in the top eight, while Collin Black did not qualify for the finals in the boys’ 400 after running a 52.05.
The Lady Generals finished in 17th place overall with 15.33 points, while the Generals tied New Hampstead for 24th place with 10 points.