Faulkner’s 4 first places pace the Jackets
The Calhoun boys and girls track and field teams will send a number of athletes to Saturday’s 5A sectional meet after a strong performance last week at the Region 7-5A competition in Roswell.
Junior Dylan Faulkner put on a one-man show for the Yellow Jackets, winning four of the six field events at the Regional event, meaning the 6-foot-9 junior will again be a busy man this Saturday at the Sectionals, having qualified to compete in the high jump, long jump, discus and shot put.
(The top four finishers in each event automatically qualify for this weekend sectional and the top two in each will advance to the state meet, starting May 12th.)
While Faulkner’s effort was head-and-shoulders above the rest of the crowd, both Calhoun teams had a big group of student-athletes advance with a few other Region champs as well.
His win in the high jump led a 1-2 finish for the Jackets with senior Jalen Harris coming in second. Faulkner had the winning height at 6 feet, 4 inches and Harris was second at 6 feet, two inches.
It was the same way in the discus where Faulkner was the winner and a teammate came in second place.
Faulkner finished first with a 138-09 distance and his best throw went exactly a foot farther than senior Lex Walraven’s 13709, which was second.
Faulkner won the pole vault in another event in which two Calhoun athletes will move on to the Sectionals.
He went over the bar at 13 feet even for his 7-5A championship with 12-6 the second place height. Senior Camden Charles kept his season going by coming fourth at 10-6. A Blessed Trinity vaulter went 11 feet high for third place.
In the shot put, Faulkner finished first ahead of a pair of Blessed Trinity athletes. His top
throw went 49 feet, 8.25 inches and the next best went two feet less at 47-08.
Calhoun’s other first place came in the 4-x-400 relay, in which they ran a 3:30.95. Cass and Cartersville had a real run for second place with the Colonel’s second with a 3:33.26 while the Purple Hurricanes were third with a 3.33.89.
Individually, Calhoun had quite a few second, third, and fourth places, extending the track season for those athletes for at least another week.
Besides placing second in the high jump, Harris had a pair of other second places for the Jackets.
He was the 7-5A runner-up in the 100-meter dash, just missing
out on winning it, as he ran an 11.09 while the winning time was an 11.03.
Harris won the prelim on the first day of the competition, running an 11.03, but couldn’t match that on Day Two.
Senior Cole Speer was the second Yellow Jacket to advance in the 100, coming in third with a speedy 11.39 in the finals.
And Harris was second in the long jump, going 23 feet exactly with the winning distance a 2302.25.
Senior Quin Smith completed Calhoun’s excellent day in the field events by coming in second in the triple jump. He had a 43-8 for the silver medal and the victorious jump was a 48-3.5.
Calhoun will have three hurdlers in the 110 M race at Sectionals and sophomore Jadon Thomason will run in both hurdles
races after he was second in the 110 and the 300 meters.
In the 110s, Thomason ran a 14.68 and the first place time was a 14.67. He was also the first Calhoun hurdler in a 2-3-4 finish for the black-and-gold. Junior Dustin Kerns came in third with a 15.26 and Smith was fourth at 15.32.
Sophomore Caden Williams also qualified for the sectionals by placing fourth in the 200-meter run. He ran a 23.48 and a thirdplace time was 823.45. The winning time what is a 22.96 with a 23.19 coming in second.
The Calhoun boys 4-x-200 meter relay team will also run at the sectionals after placing fourth in the region, running a 1:34.40. BT was the 7-5A winner with a 1:32.80.
For the girls, seniors Jabria Printup and Malaya Winston won their team’s gold medals,
placing first in both the discus and shot put.
They competed against each other for the region championship in the discus and wound up being separated by just seven inches with their final distances as Printup was the gold medalist with a 108-11 while Winston took home the silver with a 108-04.
Winston was the Region shot put champ with a 37-01 distance and Printup was third at 34-02.75.
The Lady Jackets also had a pair of second places with one coming individually and the other in the relays.
Senior Espee Reyes was the runner-up in the triple jump with a 32-3.75 and she was just an inch off the winning distance of 32 feet, 4.75 inches.
They were second at the Region meet in the 4-x-200 relay, running a 1:53.02 to hold off third-place
Cass, which closed with a 1:53.62. Blessed Trinity won that relay race and the Lady Titans were the region champs in all four relay races.
Junior Asiyah Pritchett was third in the Region in the high jump with a 4-foot-8. She finished behind a pair of Cartersville girls with 5-feet even winning it and 4-10 coming in second.
Junior Lauren Watson qualified for the sectional meet by coming in fourth in the 300-meter hurdles with a 51.55 time. The threesport athlete was the last runner in the field to complete the race in under 52 seconds.
Calhoun will advance in the three other relays after placing fourth in each at the regional event.
The Lady Jackets ran a 52.76 in the 4-x-100, a 4:27.65 in the 4-x400, and a 12:32.87 in the 4-x800 to just miss the medal stand.