Runnin’ Rabbs win gold at state

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The UIL state track meet wouldn’t be the same without an Atlanta team or individual competing.

Track excellence at Atlanta High School has been a staple for years and that all culminated with the school’s first-ever boys’ track and field championship in 1989.

Overall, the boys’ team has won 31 district titles in 34 years, five area championships, 12 regional titles, three state runner-ups, numerous medals in different events and six state titles.

On the girls’ side, I don’t have the complete numbers, but the Lady Rabbs did win a state title in 2019, its first ever, won a district title this year and won an area championship this season.

The Lady Rabbs relay teams qualified for state in both the 4x100m and 4x200m with runners Shamijala Gillam, JD Larry, Makaylin King and Toya Hurd leading the way.

Both of those teams finished fifth overall which is something to build on.

Senior Stacy Darty has been lights out in the triple jump for most of his high school time and qualified for state in both that event and the 300m hurdles.

Darty placed fifth in the hurdles event and sixth in triple jump. Anyone who has been there will tell you getting to state is hard. They will also tell you that winning at state is very difficult.

With that said, Atlanta’s boys’ relay teams make it look easy when it comes to what Head Coach Nick Miller refers to as Atlanta’s “bread and butter”.

That’s because you can earn 20 points in each relay if you finish first and if you can obtain three first-place finishes at state then you can pretty much seal a state championship in most cases.

It’s no secret that if Atlanta had not been disqualified in both the 4x200m and 4x400m relay at regionals then it could have been a different outcome at the state meet overall.

With somewhat of a chip on its shoulder the 4x100m relay team wasn’t leaving Austin without a gold medal.

The way they ran that race, and I can say without a doubt, that the other two relay races would have been wins for Atlanta as well.

Cooper Swanson, Isaiah Chandler, Markeylin Batton and JaBranden Wells ran their hearts out last week and came home with a gold medal.

The race wasn’t even close as Wells finished ahead of everyone else by several lengths. After that performance I’m sure the other teams were relieved, they only had to face Atlanta once.

Head Coach Nick Miller, a former AHS track champion, took on the girls’ track program this year and already results are streaming in. He’s already coached the boys’ program to a state title and knows that there could be a state title in the future for both programs. Coach Miller and company like to set a bar and then go out and top it the following season. With that said I’m sure both programs and Coach Miller are ready for next year already.