Phoenix boys win Nance Industries Relays
With a high number of individual finishes, the Sonoraville High School boys track and field team won the recent Nance Industries Relays at Gordon Central High School.
The Phoenix, who won seven individual events and had a number of second and third-place finishes to go along with that, scored 121 points to finish ahead of second place Model, which had 103 points.
Gordon Central was third in the team standings with 89 points and Armuchee, which had 81 points, was fourth. Calhoun, which had most of its squad at the Southeast Invitational in Whitfield County, at the same time this meet was going on, was fifth with 46.
The Phoenix had two different events in which they not only won, but dominated, taking all the available medals by securing the first three places. And in a few other events, they didn’t get the full sweep, but sure came mighty close.
They were first, second, and third in the 300-meter hurdles with junior Keegan Townsend, who also won the long jump, winning the race with a 43.78. He was just ahead of junior teammate Chase Bonds, who was second with a 44.01 and Sonoraville sophomore Evan Johnson was third at 45.08.
Calhoun junior Jaquan McCarty was fifth in the race, running a 48.34 and he was the last runner to finish in under 49 seconds.
And McCarthy claimed Calhoun’s only individual first place, winning the triple jump with a distance of 3903.5. The Swarm had two of the first four places overall with freshman Blaze Hammett fourth at 33 feet even.
Gordon Central jumper Aidyn Bennett was a medalist in the triple jump, coming in third at 35 feet, 9.5 inches.
Calhoun had a strong performance in the high jump as well with Montaze Byrd second at 5-4 and Houston Wilson one of four jumpers to tie for third at a distance of 5-02. The top jump was five feet, six inches.
Besides Wilson, Gordon Central’s Leo Heath and Sonoraville jumpers Jordan Carter and Xai Gilbert also got over the high bar at 5-02.
Along with the field events, the meet consisted of seven different relay races, instead of the usual three or four, and there were no races ranging from the 100-meter competition to the twomile run categories.
For Sonorsville, its other event sweep came in the shot put, where they also claimed the top three spots.
Bram Carter threw a 40-09 to win the competition for Sonoraville in a field of 30 throwers. Senior Preston Gilbert, who is headed to Reinhardt University on a football scholarship, was second with a 39-04 and T.J. Oliver took third place with a not far away best heave of
RELAYS,
38 feet, 11.5 inches.
Calhoun had the fifth and sixth-place finishes, respectively, with junior Christian Smith fifth at 37 feet, 4.5 inches and Hammett sixth at 36 feet, six inches.
The Phoenix also had a couple of events where they took first and second places.
The Big Red had three of the top four finishes in the 110-meter hurdles, going 1-2-4.
Senior Chase Bonds won the 110s with a 16.74 and junior Chase Bonds, just like in the 300s, was second with a 16.96 for his second silver medal as they were the only two to run a time below 17 seconds. Johnson was fourth for the winners
with a 18.43 and he almost made that the third event swept as the third place time was an 18.42 by a hurdler from Model.
Sonoraville also went 1-2 in the discus with Oliver winning it easily with a distance of 123 feet, 11 inches while junior teammate Julian Aguilar was second at 111 feet, eight inches.
Smith took the bronze medal for Calhoun, finishing third with a best distance of 103 feet, four inches and he was the last one in the field of almost to go over 100 feet.
Gordon Central also had a strong showing in that discus, taking fifth through seventh.
Junior Matthew Burnette led the GC competitors with a 96-09 for fourth place. Parker Chastain was fifth and second for the Warriors
with a throw of 90 feet even and senior Tyler Hedges was next at 88-07.
Two Sonoraville pole vaulters tied for first place with juniors Kayson Shaw and Braden Henry both going over at nine feet, six inches. Gordon Central junior vaulter Ashton Henson just missed stepping on the medal stand, placing fourth at 8-06.
Sonoraville also secured two medals in the long jump, placing first and third and Gordon Central was in the mix as well with the individual second and fourth places.
Townsend made it two golds on the day with his first place long jump distance of 22 feet, 9.5 inches and Kyler Bonds was third for the Firebirds at 20 feet, three inches. He was also the last guy to fly past 20 feet.
Gordon Central senior
Marquavious Yopp took the silver medal, coming in second at 20-09 and junior Camdon Miles was fourth with a 19 feet, 10.5 inch distance.