Richmond Hill’s boys and girls track and field teams will be looking to defend their Region 2-6A track titles when they host the region meet next Wednesday.
The Wildcats, who haven’t run competitively since competing at the Starr’s Mill Invite on April 2 will get in their final tune-up prior to the region with the Apex Invite Friday evening at Wildcats Stadium.
Due to the COVID outbreak a region meet was not held last year. Both the boys and girls teams won in 2019. While the girls will be looking to repeat the boys will be chasing a fourth straight region championship having also won the region in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Region qualifiers will advance to the sectional meet on May 8 and from there qualifiers move on to the GHSA state meet to be held at Carrollton May 13-15.
The Apex Invite will get underway with the field events starting at 4 p.m. followed by the running events 30 minutes later. The region meet will start at 9 a.m.
At Starr’s Mill the boys rode strong performances from their relay teams to score 61 points which enabled them finish fourth in a field of 21 teams. The girls also relied on their relay teams and individual performances from Reese Wilson and Avery Fisher to finish fourth with 61 points.
Jasai Taylor was the lone first-place finisher for the boys but the 4 x 800 relay team snared a first while the 4 x 400 runners were second and they got third in the 4 x 100.
Taylor won the 300-meter hurdles with Joel Bowlin finishing seventh. The Wildcats got a second from Evan Clark in the long jump and had seventh places finishes from Anfernee Jackson in the 200 meters, Josh Mitchell in the 800, Noah Sybert in the 3,200, Elijah Blige in the shot put and Clark in the triple jump.
The 4 x 800 team got a strong finish from Corey Adamski who was clocked in 2:02.89. Chance Haggray and Dylan Overbey ran the first two legs and Sybert posted a 2:03.42 before handing the baton off to Adamski who closed it out.
In the 4 x 400 Deon Sumpter, Bowlin, Jackson and Taylor ran a strong race while Clark, Taylor, Jackson and Bowlin made up the 4 x 100 grouping.
Wilson continued her fine spring when she finished first in the 3,200 meters in a time of 11:32.90 and she was also on the winning 4 x 800 team which included Somaria Courtney, Caroline Cameron and Lucy Tuttle as the anchor.
Fisher got first in the shot put with a throw of 39-11 and was second in the discus at 103-08. Daisy Avery was second in the pole vault at 8-06 and Tuttle claimed fifth in the 800 meters.
In baseball Richmond Hill continued its drive toward a region title as it won it’s eighth straight region game with a 4-0 win at Statesboro on Monday with Hunter Legas (6-2) getting the win with relief help from Luke Boone.
While Legas and Boone were holding the Blue Devils to three hits Leighton Finley slammed a two-run homer, his second of the season. The other two runs came a result of an error and passed ball. Richmond Hill (12-12, 9-4) is even with Glynn Academy and South Effingham in the loss column while Statesboro is one game behind. The Wildcats hosted the Blue Devils on Wednesday and will play at Statesboro on Friday.
Coach Scott Strickland’s team will close out region play next week when it faces bitter rival South Effingham with home games on Monday and Friday sandwiched around a road game on Wednesday.
The Wildcats need to win out and have Glynn Academy lose one of its three games with Statesboro in order to claim the region.
Bryan County has hit a late season skid but the Redskins (11-12, 4-7 Region 3A) still have a shot at a state playoff berth. Their assignment is simple: win out and have Jenkins County lose one of its three remaining games.
The Redskins went 34 consecutive innings without scoring before breaking through with four runs in the third inning of a 12-7 loss to Savannah Country Day. They followed with a 12-8 win Tuesday night over Portal which is winless in region play. The Redskins play at Portal on Friday before taking on McIntosh County Academy in a pair of games next week. With three games remaining Coach Justin Covington’s team is in fifth-place tie with MCA, one game behind the Bulldogs who will be finishing against league leader Metter. Should Bryan County and Jenkins finish tied for fourth the Redskins hold the tiebreaker based on run differential. The two split this season with BCHS winning 11-4, and losing 4-2.
