Track News

Atlanta is set to host the 28th running of the Atlanta Lions Club/Gordon Pynes/Runnin’ Rabbs Relays this Saturday Mar. 18.

The past few years the meet has jumped around from Thursday to Friday but the outcome was the same with Atlanta taking the boys’ title.

Atlanta has won the meet 18 times in the 27 years since its inception in 1996. The Runnin’ Rabbs won 12 of the first 13 meets with one year being canceled due to weather.

Texas High won the meet in 2009 followed by Longview in 2010 but the Rabbs retained the title in 2011. Texas High won three in a row before weather once again canceled the event in 2015. Tatum won in 2016 and no other team has won since 2017 except Atlanta.

COVID intervened in 2020 and successfully shut down all Spring sports but the Runnin’ Rabbs have won the last five meets.

Look for them to do the same again this weekend. Head Coach Nick Miller has coached the team to big wins already this season.

Both the boys and girls are coming off titles at Texas High which was a crowded field of larger schools. As of now the Rabbit relay teams have the best times in the state.

Ten records at the Rabbs Relays are held by Atlanta track members including the 2004, 1600m relay run by Curtis Burns, Dallas Washington, Calvin Graham and Nick Miller.

The field will be loaded this weekend as the Rabbs welcome Bloomburg, Daingerfield, Grace Community, Hallsville, Hooks, Liberty-Eylau, Linden-Kildare, Marshall, McLeod, Mt. Pleasant Chapel Hill, Nacogdoches, Pleasant Grove and Redwater.

As always the hometown crowd shows up for this event and Coach Miller is very thankful for the support.

“I want to thank our community for their continued support of our track program,” Coach Miller remarked. “There aren’t many track meets where the stands are packed and that’s special. It’s a great atmosphere when the community comes out and supports the kids. Words cannot describe the feeling you get when you round that final turn and head for the line and the home crowd is cheering for you as you run.”

“We have a great tradition of track around here and when I was young and was able to attend one of the meets, I was hooked and wanted to be a part of something special,” Coach Miller said.

Not only is Coach Miller coaching the boys’ team but has taken on the girls’ side as well.

Atlanta’s girls are coming off two solid wins after taking titles in both Gilmer and Texarkana and also won the Marshall meet not long ago. The Lady Rabbs won last year’s relays at home and look to keep the title in Atlanta.

Coach Miller talked about how he feels coaching the Lady Rabbs this season.

“I’m having a blast coaching the ladies’ side. I coached them a little last year near the end of the season,” Coach Miller said. “We won district and almost won area last year, so it was a great springboard into this season and they’ve come out and worked hard, with no complaining and competing hard.”

“I’m proud of the way they compete and it has shown with big wins at Gilmer, Marshall and Texas High,” Coach Miller added. “Our times are getting better and our relay times are some of the best in the state. They are buying into it and I’m having a blast coaching them.”

Coach Miller alluded to how much work goes into a meet and the help he needs doing so.

“You have to have a good staff and I feel like we have great coaches here,” Coach Miller said. “Cole Davis, Tau Maxwell, Keisha Garner, Shannon Jones, Jarrod Boston, Will Allen, Randel Clark and Jeff Harrell all put in time helping with the kids and meets. We take 80 kids combined to relays so it’s important to have a good staff.”

Things kickoff at 10:30 a.m. this Saturday with finals set for 1:30 p.m.

Queen City and Bloomburg track members competed in the Joe Culpepper Relays on Mar. 9, in Redwater.

Bloomburg

Bloomburg’s sole member who competed was Jacee Glasgow who finished first overall in the 100m hurdles with a time of 17.53.

Queen City Varsity Boys

Queen City’s varsity boys placed third behind Winnsboro and Pleasant Grove.

In the 200m dash DJ Henson placed second at 22.73 and Nicolas Herring placed fourth at 23.28, in the 400m dash Trent Granberry placed first at 51.91, in the 800m run Xavier Allison placed sixth at 2:27.53, in the 3200m run Timothy Brady placed sixth at 13.06.95, in the 100m hurdles Clint Wooding placed third at 19.57 and Trevonne Horsley placed fourth at 20.22 and in the 300m hurdles Horsley and Wooding placed 5-6 with times of 49.29 and 53.06 respectively.

The 4x100m relay team of Daketrick Smith, Henson, Granberry and Delvon Federick placed second at 44.16 and the 4x200m relay team of Smith, Henson, Herring and Federick placed second at 1:33.87.

Varsity Girls

The varsity girls placed third behind PG and host Redwater.

In the 100m dash Cassidy Johnson placed second at 12.97, in the 200m dash Makayla Wilson placed sixth at 30.50, in the 400m dash Serenity Oden placed third at 1:10.45, in the 3200m run Keri Fomby placed third at 14:59.47, in the 100m hurdles Lola Gladden placed fourth at 19.91 and Taylor Ward placed fifth at 20.53 and in the 300m hurdles Toni McCellon placed first at 50.50 and Ward placed fourth at 59.78.

The 4x100m relay team of Johnson, McCellon, Oden and Amiya Young placed third at 53.03 and the 4x200m relay team of Makayla Wilson, Gladden, Young and Reagan Hargrave placed fourth at 2:01.99.

JV Boys

For the JV boys, Caleb Kimble placed fourth at 2:20.18 and Montana Aleman placed fifth at 2:26.34 in the 800m run and in the 110m hurdles Sebatsian Aleman placed sixth at 20.37.

The 4x100m relay team of Keegan Salers, Kaleb Francisco, Cole Byrd and Christian nard placed third at 47.49, and the 4x200m relay team of the same lineup placed sixth at 1:45.22.

Atlanta Middle School track members competed in the Texas Middle School Relays on Mar. 6, in Texarkana.

Seventh Grade Boys

The seventh-grade boys’ team placed second behind Paris and beat out big schools like Texarkana, Marshall, Liberty-Eylau and Pleasant Grove.

In the 100m dash Jamario Crawford placed first at 12.30 and TJ Rainey placed sixth at 12.87, in the 200m dash Crawford placed first at 25.90, in the 400m dash Jack Shew placed third at 1:04.41, in the 110m hurdles Dayton Harvard placed third at 19.82 and in the 300m hurdles Harvard placed second at 52.97 and Alyas Clemenson placed fifth at 55.31.

In the 800m run Hayes Highland placed fourth at 2:42.44, in the 1200m run Noah Sheffield placed third at 4:16.44 and in the 2400m run Jayden McCullough placed fifth at 10:17.00 and Sheffield placed sixth at 10:18.47.

The 4x100m relay team of Dre Simmons, Ean Riojas, Breckin Wells and Rainey placed second at 50.68, the 4x200m relay team of Simmons, Riojas, Crawford and Rainey placed third at 1:46.16 and the 4x400m relay team of Shew, Simmons, Wells and Cannon Hammonds placed third at 4:20.00.

In field events, Shew placed first in pole vault and McCullough fourth with marks of 7 feet and 6 feet respectively, in high jump Simmons placed first at 5 feet, in triple jump Rainey placed fifth at 30 feet, 1 inch, in the long jump Simmons placed fifth at 15 feet, 7 inches, in discus Riojas placed fifth at 82 feet and in shot Riojas placed first with a heave of 39 feet, 3 inches and Hammonds placed third with a toss of 33 feet, 10 inches.

Seventh Grade Girls

The seventh grade girls also finished second and missed winning the meet by two points.

In the 100m dash Sariyah Williams placed fifth at 14.26, in the 200m dash Williams placed fifth at 29.79 and in the 100m hurdles Chloe Simms placed second at 19.32.

In the 800m run Kaylee Cupples placed first at 2:51.00, Kira Scott placed fourth at 3:00.32 and Kami Woods placed sixth at 3:07.42, in the 1200m run Lilliana Mendez placed sixth at 5:09.05 and in the 2400m run Landry Peace placed second at 10:54.71 and Jaylee Phillips placed third at 11:02.40.

The 4x100m relay team of Makayla Collins, Kherington Baca, Ahlayla Noble and Sasha Ramirez placed first at 53.12, the 4x200m relay team of the same lineup placed first at 1:55.09 and the 4x4 team of Cupples, Baca, Noble and Peace placed third at 4:53.24.

In field events, Simms placed second in long jump at 13 feet, 10 inches and in triple jump Noble placed fourth at 27 feet, 2 inches and teammate Bailey Brooks placed fifth at 26 feet, 11 inches.

Eighth Grade Boys

For the eighth grade boys, Kenzie Wiggins placed third in the 800m run at 2:34.93, the 4x100m relay team of Colby Wells, TJ Hamilton, Jaden Smith and Kaigen Lloyd placed sixth at 50.22 and the 4x400m relay team of Landon Thomas, Hamilton, Dailen Collins and Liam McKinney placed fifth at 4:17.51.

In field events, Thomas placed fifth in long jump with a mark of 16 feet, 7 inches, in shot Kam Williams placed second with a heave of 39 feet, 3 inches and Kamden Kerns placed fourth at 35 feet, 1 inches, in discus Williams placed second with a heave of 107 feet, 10 inches and Jaylen Finley placed third at 98 feet, 3 inches and in triple jump Thomas placed third at 35 feet, 7 inches, Collins fourth at 33 feet, 11 1/2 inches and Lloyd sixth at 33 feet, 10 1/2 inches.

Eighth Grade Girls

The eighth-grade girls were just five points from finishing second overall.

Sophia Price placed first in both the 800m run and the 1200m run with times of 2:37.00 and 4:29.28 respectively, the 4x100m relay team of Ke’Mauri Johnson, Skylar Spencer, Gracie McWilliams and Jaliyah Gordon placed third at 53.58, the 4x200m relay team of Price, Johnson, Spencer and Gordon placed second at 1:54.21 and the 4x4 relay team of Makenzie Birmingham, Spencer, McWilliams and Gordon placed first at 4:33.80.

In field events, McWilliams placed third in long jump with a mark of 14 feet even and in shot Hannah McClanahan placed fourth at 31 feet, 4 inches.

Linden-Kildare hosted its own junior high relays on Mar. 6.

Eighth Grade Girls

The eighth-grade girls’ team dominated the meet and ran away with the title.

L-K rolled up 141 points, James Bowie was second with 115 followed by Jefferson, Maud, Clarksville and Harts Bluff.

In the 200m dash Makinah Washington placed fourth at 30.38, in the100m hurdles Maggee Winters placed third at 18.96 and in the 300m hurdles Winters placed second at 56.69.

The Lady Tigers swept the relays. The 4x100m team of Kalysa Roberts, Olivia Stewart, Summer Gibson and Washington finished at 54.43, the 4x200m team of the same lineup finished at 1:57.02 and the 4x4 team of Roberts, Winters, Gibson and Stewart finished at 4:41.94.

In fields events, Washington placed second in the long jump with a mark of 13 feet, 3 inches, Gibson placed third in the long jump event at 13 feet, 2 inches and Roberts placed sixth at 12 feet, 6 inches.

In shot Charington Taylor placed first with a toss of 33 feet, 10 inches and Devonna Linwood placed third at 28 feet, 2 inches. Linwood and Taylor placed 2-3 in discus with marks of 71 feet, 1 inch and 66 feet, 11 inches respectively.

In high jump Alexis Benton placed second at 4 feet and in triple jump Roberts placed first at 30 feet, 1 inch and Washington placed sixth at 26 feet, 9 inches.

Eighth Grade Boys

In the 100m dash Ayden Rainge placed second at 12.20, in the 400m dash Jacob George placed fourth at 1:05.78, in the 800m run Davon Finley placed fifth at 2:51.75 and in the 110m hurdles Ashtin Owens placed fifth at 23.46.

The 4x100m relay team of George, Owens, Jerric Madison and Rainge placed third at 52.28 and the 4x200m relay team of the same lineup placed fourth at 1:52.74.

In the field events, Owens placed sixth in long jump at 14 feet, 8 3/4 inches and in triple jump Rainge placed sixth at 30 feet, 3 inches.

Seventh Grade Girls

In the 100m dash cadence Stiger and Brooklyn Bynum placed 4-5 with times of 15.10 and 15.53 respectively, in the 200m dash Gracie Lawrence, Stiger and Bynum placed 4-5-6 with times of 32.56, 33.18 and 33.24, in the 300m hurdles Autumn Montoya placed third at 1:02.31 and in the 2400m run Montoya placed fourth at 11:59.00.

In field events, Stiger placed fourth in long jump at 11 feet, 4 inches and in shot Cabella Busby placed fourth at 23 feet, 1 inch and Jayden Cervantes placed sixth at 21 feet, 11 inches.

Seventh Grade Boys

In the 100m dash Ja’Koryn Love placed fifth at 14.18, in the 200m dash Love placed third at 29.99 and teammate Weston Teel placed sixth at 31.59, in the 400m dash Axel Munoz placed first at 1:06.02 and Ethan Whatley placed fourth at 1:20.31 and in the 800m run Munoz placed first at 2:34.12.

In the field events, Love placed second in long jump at 13 feet, 11 1/2 inches and Munoz placed fifth at 13 feet, 1 3/4 inches and in high jump Teel placed first at 4 feet, 10 inches.