Rome wins 1st Rome Relays in 12 years

Lifted by the performances of nearly each one of its 100 competing athletes, the Rome High track and field team made the return of the Rome Relays a hometown victory.

Both Rome’s boys’ and girls’ teams performed well during the relay events Saturday and emerged as the clear winners in the team standings at the end of the day.

The Wolves used several top-three performances to accumulate 222 points, while Paulding County came in second out of the seven teams with 103.5 points. The Lady Wolves followed suit, scoring 176 total points, while Kennesaw Mountain was second with 116.

It marked the first time in 12 years the once longrunning Rome Relays were held, featuring an all- relay schedule that included unique events like the 800-meter sprint medley relay and the 4x200-meter relay.

Rome’s boys finished first and second in both the 4x100 and 4x800 relays, and also won the 4x200, 4x1,600 and the 3x110-meter shuttle hurdle relay.

One of t he consistent performers for the Wolves was Montrell Millsap, who was part of the winning 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams as well as the shuttle hurdle relay team.

The junior also was part of Rome’s secondplace 4x400 relay team and placed second in the boys’ long jump with a leap of 20 feet, 7 inches.

In the girls’ events, Rome captured first in seven of the eight relays it participated in, winning the 4x100, 4x200, 4x400, 4x800, 4x1,600 and 3x100-meter shuttle hurdle relay.

Jataria Jackson was part of the Lady Wolves’ first- place 4x100 team, which edged Kennesaw Mountain by 0.46 seconds, and also took first in the high jump at 4-10.

Jackson s et a new school record in the 100 at Rome’s meet Thursday with a time of 11.99 seconds, a tenth of a second faster than the previous mark set by Demetria Almond in 1997.

A junior, Jackson was part of Rome’s secondplace sprint medley relay team, running one of the two 100- meter legs. Chattooga’s “A” team finished just ahead of Rome for first place.

Rome’s next meet will be Thursday at Barron Stadium to host Model, Pepperell and Carrollton.