Druid Hills finishes second, leads DeKalb’s top 5 team @ Girls’ State Track meets

By Mark Brock

Athletics Specialist for DeKalb County School District

The Druid Hills Lady Red Devils finished second in the GHSA Class 4A Girl’s State Track and Field Championships for the second consecutive season to lead a group of five Top 10 finishes by DeKalb County teams.

Druid Hills collected six gold medals, two silver and one bronze medal on the way to compiling 90 points in coming up just three points shy of Westminster’s 93 at Hugh Mills Stadium in Albany.

Sanaa Frederick became one of the most decorated girls’ track athletes in DeKalb history as she completed a third consecutive sweep in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, giving her six individual gold medals to go with a silver in the 200 and a bronze in the 100 in 2021. She has also helped the Lady Red Devils to three consecutive gold medals in the 4×100-meter relay and two in the 4×400-meter relay.

Sanna Frederick won the 100 with a time of 11.444 ,just ahead of her sister, Sole Frederick ,in 11.446. The times were just off the record of 11.41 set by Sanaa FREDERICK  year ago.

The sisters broke the 200-meter dash record for the second consecutive year as both surpassed Sanaa’s 2023 record of 23.39 in another 1-2 finish. Sanaa ran a 23.16 for the new overall record and Sole was just .16 behind at 23.32 to come under last’s mark. Delali Setrana made it a 1-2-3 finish for Druid Hills in the 200 with a time of 24.69 to take the bronze.

Jadyn Bolden won the 400-meter dash for the second consecutive season with a time of 56.13 to collect gold once again.

The Lady Red Devils also picked up gold medal in three of the four relay events led by a third consecutive gold in the 4×100-meter relay with a time of 45.24 to eclipse their state record of 45.74. The two sisters teamed with Jadyn Boden and Delali Setrana for the win.

The Fredericks and Bolden joined Miya Carthan for a second consecutive state gold in the 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:54.20. A third gold medal in relay competition came in the 4×200-meter relay with Setrana, Carthan, Bolden and Sky Jones with a time of 1:40.59.

The Miller Grove Lady Wolverines added to the Top 10 finishes for DeKalb coming in ninth in the Class 4A girls’ meet fueled by a pair of bronze medal performances.

Jillian Kidd took the third in the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 14.76 and Aryan Franklin leaped to a third place in the high jump (5-00.00).

Clarkston grabbed a bronze medal in the triple jump by Kierra McKanna (37-03.25) to wrap up the medal winners in Class 4A.

CLASS 2A

Towers and Redan added two more to the Top 5 finishes in state competition by finishing third and tied for eighth, respectively, at East Jackson High School in Commerce.

A gold by Layla Adams in the long jump (18-03.50) was the top finish in the 2A girls’ meet for DeKalb as she helped Towers into the third place overall finish.

Macada McDonald added a silver in the 300-meter hurdles (44.09) and a bronze in the 100-meter hurdles (14.91) to aid the Titans’ cause. The Towers 4×200-meter relay team (1:43.41) came home with a bronze as well.

Redan’s Kameron Smith led the way with a silver medal in the high jump (5-02.00) for her team along with fourth in the 300-meter hurdles (45.28).

CLASS 5A

Tucker was the final girls’ team to finish in the Top 10 garnering 28 points good for 10^th in the Class 5A girls’ state competition at Grisham Stadium in Carrollton.

Nijah Lewis accounted for 15 of the points by winning the triple jump (38-02.00) and taking fourth in the long jump (18-05.00) to lead the Tigers.

Kristan Simmons put up 13 points as she took silver in the discus (131-04.00) and fourth in the shot put (38-02.50).

Martin Luther King Jr. finished just out of the Top 10 in 13^th with 21 points led by the performance of India Thorpe with one silver and two bronze medals to pull in 20 of the team’s 21 points.

Thorpe took the silver in the 100-meter hurdles (14.78) and the bronze in the both the 300-meter hurdles (44.24) and high jump (5-02.00).

Arabia Mountain finished 20^th with 12 points led by Ava Amey’s bronze medal finish in the 100 hurdles (14.80).

CLASS 6A

Dunwoody finished 16^th overall in the Class 6A Girl’s State Championships at Barron Stadium in Rome over the weekend.

Senior Claire Shelton collected her second consecutive bronze medal finish in the 3200-meter run (10:56.63) and picked up her third overall with her third-place finish in the 1600-meter run (4:58.55).

Abby Roberts scored Lakeside’s only points by finishing fifth in the discus (120-05.00).

CLASS 3A

Cedar Grove finished tied for 29^th with four points in the Class 3A girls’ state meet at Hugh Mills Stadium in Albany.

Waynijah Kuykendall finished fifth in the long jump (16-11.00) to score the Saints’ only points.