The first batch of Region Championship began last week and some of the first region champions were crowned over the weekend. Monday will see the action resume and the rest of the state will conclude its region championships this week with sectionals around the corner. Region 7-A Division II crowned the Atlanta Classical Academy (112) girls and Mt. Zion-Carroll (166) boys its champions. The girls earned 52 points in the distance events to edge second-place Utopian Academy (97) and the Mt. Zion-Carroll boys picked up 55 points in the Jumps and 43 in the Sprints to edge second-place Southwest Atlanta Christian. Atlanta International hosted the Class A Division I Region 6 champions on Friday. Whitefield Academy built a lopsided 90.5-point lead on the boys side over (197.50-to-107) Mt. Vernon and a the girls stacked up a narrow two-point advantage over Mt. Pisgah on the girls side (145-to-143). The girls excelled with 44 points in the distance events and the boys achieved 35 or more points in all six categories with the exception of a 10-point output in the throws. Second-place Mt. Vernon racked up 33 points in the Throws category, but failed to place in the hurdles and achieved just five points in the jumps. The Mustangs picked up 32 in the Distance, 20 in the Relays and 17 in the Sprints. The Weber School’s sophomore Solomon Raggs placed first in the Shot Put with a 41-2 and also added a top finish in the discus with a 121-3 and a first place finish in the High Jump with a 5-8. Raggs previously broke a school record at the Woodward Academy Invitational with a 129-0 in the discus and 46.650 in the shot put. The Weber School’s freshman Nuriel Shimoni-Stoil is also among the top performers in all of Class A Division I this season and he set school records in the 100 meter hurldes (17.02) and 300 meter hurdles (45.01). Not only were those both school records, but his 45.01 in the 300 meter hurdles was the top time within the classification at the time.
In Class 5A Region 1 the Greenbrier Wolfpack completed a sweep—with the girls topping Ware County 198-123 and the boys holding off Jenkins 182-141.50. The girls absolutely dominated the distance events with depth (earning 62 points) and excelled in the jumps (46), springs (36) and relays (33). Ware County senior Samantha Savinon Rios won the 3200 meter with a 12:13.09, but Allison Sidley, Gwen Howell and Avery Ritz all placed in the top five to give the Wolfpack 18 points in the 3200. Rios earned third (5:50.24) in the 1600 for six points, but Caleigh Munro’s first-place finish (5:45.28), Peyton Martin’s runner-up 5:47.04 and a seventh-place 6:23.63 by Clara Stewart contributed another 20 points to their 198-point team total.
Apalachee High School hosted the Region 8-Class 6A Championships over the weekend and the titles went to the Gainesville girls and Shiloh boys. The Lady Elephants achieved 144 points to surpass second-place Jackson County’s 128 and Shiloh dominated with 207 points to cruise past Gainesville (15) and third-place Apalachee (90.50). The Gainesville girls excelled in the Sprints (44), Distance (41) and Relays (38)—earning 17 points in the Relays, seven in the Hurdles and zero in the Throws.
Shiloh’s domination was fueled by the Generals’ whopping 71-point output in the Jumps in addition to the Relays (36), Hurdles (34), Sprints (31), Distance (27) and Throws (8). Adoni Nembhard-Belcher (22-1), Marcus Thompson (21-3 personal record) and Sherman Lattimore (20-10) swept the podium in the Long Jump. Senior Eric Robinson hit a personal record 6-foot-2 in the high jump for first place and his teammate Elijah Coles-Felix finished runner-up with a 5-10. Thompson hit a personal record and Georgia Top 50 mark with a 45-11 in the triple jump to beat Aplachee’s Undre Burton’s personal record 43-1.40 and Sherman Lattimore finished third with a 43-0.
