Stephenson, Decatur earn DCSD Junior Varsity Track Championships

The 2021 DeKalb County Junior Varsity Track Championships provided some exciting moments as the Stephenson Lady Jaguars and Decatur Bulldogs captured the respective titles on April 13 at Buck Godfrey Stadium in Decatur.

Stephenson held off a late charge by defending champion (2019) Arabia Mountain to capture the title by a slim 96-93 margin.

The Lady Jaguars built a lead early taking the titles in the shot and discus with wins by Jamaya Allen in the shot (30-05.75) and the discus (81-09) along with a victory by Petaune Noteman in the long jump (16-05.00).

The 4×800 meter relay team claimed the gold in 14:34.98 and Ty’Kira Garrett turned in a pair of silver medal finishes in the 100 (13.27) and 200 (27.53) meter dashes to aid the cause.

Ashley Brown scored a pair of gold medals for Arabia Mountain in the comeback attempt winning the triple jump (30.05.00) and the 300 meter hurdles (55.76).

As the teams came into the final event Stephenson was holding a 92-83 edge with Arabia Mountain needing a victory in the 4×400 meter relay to have a shot. The Lady Rams captured the title in 4:20.63, but Stephenson scored four points to keep the lead and take the team title.

Redan finished third with 83 points led by gold medal performances by Ceony Jones and Kennedy Leach. Jones claimed the 1600 meter run title in 7:11.73 to go with a silver in the 800. Leach won the high jump with a leap of 4 feet, 8 inches.

Miller Gove’s third place finish of 79 points was paced by Jocelyn Streeter’s victory in the 400-meter dash (1:03.62) and a bronze in the 200-meter dash (27.66). Trinity Coleman added a sliver in the discus (71-00) and a bronze in the shot (26-11.00) while silver medals came in the high jump by Julisa Payne-Wright (4-06.00) and Janiyah McCoy in the long jump (15-06.50).

Paris Ross captured the 100 meter hurdles gold in 21.37 to pace Cedar Grove’s fifth place finish with 39 points. Decatur was sixth led by a sweep of the 100-(12.95) and 200-meter (27.04) dashes from Iylan Howson and a win in the 800-meter run by Katie Sanders (2:46.54).

The victory by Stephenson was the Lady Jaguars third title in the six years (2015-2019, 2021) of Junior Varsity County Championships competition.

BOYS CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Decatur Bulldogs racked up 69 of its 99 points in distance events to cart away their first ever DeKalb County Junior Varsity Track Championship over Redan (84) at Buck Godfrey Stadium.

Decatur opened by winning the 4×800-meter relay (9:57.89) over Redan (10:02.22). They then put up 21 points in the 1600-meter run with three runners in the Top 4 led by gold medalist Martin Scholl (4:51.45), bronze medalist Reed Siegler (4:54.77) and fourth place finisher Sam Fisher (4:55.21).

Luke Novak (2:19.35) and Abraham Kibret (2:20.91) finished second and third, respectively, in the 800-meter run to add another 14 points for the Bulldogs.

Decatur added 24 points with a sweep of the medals in the 3200-meter run with Siegler taking the gold (10:46.84), Scholl the silver (10:46.97) and Zakariye Abdulahi the bronze (11:07.45).

Redan claimed three gold medals on the way to the second place finish, the highest for the Raiders in the event, as Jammeel Jones won the 110-meter hurdles (17.92), Lodrick Scott won the 800-meter run (2:17.65) and Xavian Green captured the long jump (20-06.00).

Towers finished third with 75 points led by Eh Blu Wah’s victory in the discus (112-04) and a win in the 4×500 meter relay (3:46.93).

Arabia Mountain’s Jordan Miller won the gold in the 300-meter hurdles (44.35) and the triple jump (39-00.00) as the Rams finished fourth with 63 points.

Stephenson finished fifth, only the second time in six years the Jaguars did not finish first, led by a gold medal from Kwabena Flowers in the 400-meter dash (51.97).

Southwest DeKalb’s Antonio Davis swept the fastest man titles winning the 100-meter (11.49) and 200-meter (23.55) dashes. The Panthers also took the 4×100-meter relay gold (45.05).

Other gold medal winners include Miller Grove’s Tajeon Fletcher in the high jump (6-00.00) and Tucker’s John Pacely in the shot put (39-00.00).