Logan Montgomery makes history (twice) for Ridgeland
Friday, May 14th, 2021 will be a day to remember in the history of Ridgeland High School athletics as the school got to celebrate not just one, but its first two individual state championships in track.
And they were both claimed by the same athlete.
Junior Logan Montgomery, the prohibitive favorite in both Class AAAA boys’ throwing events, met those lofty expectations and swept the discus and the shot put at Hugh Mills Stadium in Albany.
“It feels awesome,” Montgomery beamed. “I feel like this has been coming on for a long time. Obviously, I was disappointed that last year got cut short, but to finally get out there and do what I wanted to do and do what I knew I was capable of doing, honestly, it was just awesome.”
Montgomery said he took his first throw in the shot put from a standing position without a wind-up, knowing it would probably be far enough to qualify him for the final round. That throw traveled 52-feet, 8.75-inches, but he found himself in second place behind Kelton Smith of Carver-columbus, who hit 53-8 on his first attempt.
But while that first throw turned out to be Smith’s longest of the day, Montgomery was just getting warmed up.
His second throw of 562.75 was good enough the claim the win, but he went on to increase his distance on each of his first five attempts, finally topping out at 58-1.5 on his fifth throw before scratching on his sixth and final attempt with the state title having already been secured.
“After that first throw, I got a good feeling for the ring,” he explained.
While it fell three-anda-half inches short of his
all-time personal record, set during a NON-GHSA meet, his winning throw did break his own Ridgeland school record, which only counts throws in Ghsa-sanctioned events.
Montgomery’s win in the shot put was his second victory of the day as he dominated in the discus earlier that morning.
With legal throws in five of his six attempts, Montgomery only needed one as his first attempt went 169-feet even to once again break his own school record. There were five total throws in the event over 160 feet with Montgomery being responsible for four of them.
Courtland Caldwell of Central-carroll, a fellow Region 7-AAAA member, finished second at 161-10. It was his longest throw of the competition by more than 15 feet, but it still fell more
than seven feet short of Montgomery’s winning mark.
“It feels awesome to know that I hold that title and that I’m the first one to do it,” he said of claiming the school’s first state track title. “It’s just so amazing. It’s a feeling I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”
Montgomery’s two wins gave Ridgeland 20 points in the Class AAAA boys’ team standings, which turned out to be enough to give the Panthers a ninthplace overall finish.
As for the Lady Panthers, Mecca Spears placed seventh in the shot put finals with a throw of 34-10.25, which came on her final attempt, while her teammate, Cordasia Watkins, (32-9) placed 10th.
Heritage’s Caroline Hamilton and Ridgeland’s Annabel Hill both cleared 4-8 in the high jump, but Hamilton would place eighth on the tiebreaker, giving her a spot on the podium, while Hill finished up in 10th.
Another Lady General, Gracie Murray,
took part in the 100 hurdles and the 300 hurdles. The junior made the finals in the 100 hurdles, qualifying seventh at 16.66 before running at 16.64 in Saturday’s final to place eighth. However, she finished ninth in the 300 hurdles prelims on Friday (49.26), less than a half-second shy of the top eight needed to make the finals.
Heritage’s Jonathan Washburn, a future long snapper with the University of Georgia football team, closed out his high school athletic career by finishing 14th in the Class AAAA boys’ shot put at 41-0.75.
Also competing for the Generals at state on Friday was the 4x800 relay team of Gavin Chandler, Collin Black, Griffin Black and Will Waldrop. They crossed the line in 8:47.97 to place ninth in the finals, just 0.61 seconds off the podium. Chandler came back later in that evening and made the podium in the 3200 as he finished seventh (9:51.16).