Bryan County boys’ track coach Tim Adams, who is also the football team’s defensive coordinator, is retiring at the end of the school year, but he’s not going out quietly.
Last year, the Redskins’ thin class had their best year ever as the girls finished seventh in the state meet and the boys finished a respectable 19th. That represented the best finish ever in the state meet for both.
Adams and first-year girls’ coach Brysen Collier will be looking to at least equal and hopefully surpass those finishes next Monday when the Class A-DII state meet is held at the University of Georgia.
The Class A-DII and Class 4A meets will be held Monday, marking the kickoff of four days of competition for state high schools. State champions in two classes will be crowned each day. Unlike in years past when state meets were held in locations across the state, all meets will be held at UGA this week.
While team scoring was not tracked, Bryan County qualified several individuals and relay teams at the Sectional A meet held this past Monday at Bryan County. The meet was originally scheduled for last Saturday, but weather forced it to be moved.
With the exception of Riley Shuman, who had a fifth-place finish in the 800-meter run, all of Bryan County’s points in both the boys’ and girls’ meet last year were scored by underclassmen, and they’ll all be competing again on Monday along with several promising newcomers.
The top eight finishers in the sectional meet, which consisted of teams from Regions 1, 2, 3 and 4, qualified for the state meet. This came a week after Bryan County’s boys had won the Region 3A-DII meet with the girls finishing second.
Junior Abbi Stucker had a long and tiring day as she qualified in three distance races: she took first in the 1600 meters in the time of 6:11.01 while taking second in the 800 and fourth in the 3200. All told, Stucker ran 5600 meters in 23:15 and changed not counting a leg on the 4x800 relay team.
Times and order of finish, it should be pointed out, are somewhat irrelevant as the main focus in Monday’s meet was to be sure to finish in the top eight. Runners quite often have much better times in the state meet.
Tristen Glover, a promising freshman who quite possibly will be a starter in basketball next season, is a good example as she finished second in the 400 in the time of 1:01.83. Last week in the region meet she ran a blistering :59.97. Kali Simmons of Lanier County won the sectional race in :59.03.
Emily Johnson, a junior better known for her prowess on the softball field, had another successful but frustrating day as she finished second in the discus and shot put to Claxton’s Jayla Jordan.
Johnson threw the discus 124-6, 33 feet further than the Sectional A (Regions 5, 6, 7, 8) winner, and her 37-6 heave of the shot topped the other sectional winner by seven feet. Jordan, the defending state champion in both events, swamped the field at 146-8 in the discus and 41-1 in the shot.
Other girls qualifiers were Ni’Jalah Walker in the 200 and 400, Lexi Lane in the 1600, Briana Crawford in the 300 -meter hurdles, Glover in the long jump and Johnson advanced in the triple jump.
The 4x800 relay team of Lila Hannah, Khloe Smith, Stucker and Lane took second while the 4x400 team of Walker, Crawford, Gracin Gamble and Hannah finished fourth.
The boys’ 4x400 relay team of freshman Roderick Stephens, junior Jaylen Corey, sophomore Mari Green and senior Anddreas McKinney continued to dominate the event as they cruised to an easy win in 3:35.57. Their time of 3:34.04 is the best among Class A-DII teams in the state.
The 4x800 team also finished first with Will Summerford, Walker Summerford, Jordan Carlos and Stephens coasting home at 8:50.49. Will Summerford is a senior while Walker and Carlos are sophomores.
Freshman Smit Mahant took first in the 3200 and fellow freshman Channing Creech was third as the Redskins distance runners shone. Will Summerford was fifth in the 800 and third in the 1600 while brother Walker was eighth in the 800 and sixth in the 1600. Mahant was seventh in the 1600. Will is a senior and Walker a sophomore.
Senior Ryan Harrington was first in the pole vault at 9-4, Cosey was one of six to jump 6-0 in the high jump, Green qualified in the 400, sophomore Braeden Sharpe was fifth in the 110-meter hurdles.
The 4x200 relay team of Green, McKinney, Caden Sanders and Sharpe hung on to grab sixth and earn a trip to Athens.