Atlanta track athletes punch tickets to state meet

By Tim Emmons
temmons@casscountynow.com

Atlanta track has been on point all track season long.
After turning in fantastic performances from beginning to end the Rabbit track program took plenty of confidence into the Region 2, 4A Regional Track Meet last week.
In this meet the top two teams or individuals advance to state along with the best third place finishers overall in some events.

Varsity Boys
Atlanta’s boys turned in another fine performance as they missed winning the meet by just two points. Dallas Carter had 76 points, Atlanta 75 and Melissa 62 to round out the top three schools out of 32.
Trin Taylor was business as usual as he claimed first place in both the long jump at 24 feet, 4 1/2 inches, and the triple jump at 47 feet, 1 3/4 inches which advanced him to state.
Shun Hunter placed sixth in discus with a toss of 134 feet, 2 inches, and Desmond Robinson placed ninth in the shot put event with a toss of 45 feet, 8 inches.
Jawan King placed fifth in the 100m dash at 11.01; Josh Edwards placed fifth in the 100m hurdles at 14.97, but won gold in the 300m hurdles at 39.30 and advanced to state.
Calvin Rowe finished the 100m hurdles at 15.61 in 11th place and Jordan Brigham placed 15th after crossing the finish line at 17.03.
Rowe also placed 11th in the 300m hurdles at 40.74 and Ahmad Dickerson placed 11th in the 200m dash at 22.71.
The 4x100m relay team of Austin Brown, Kelton young, King and Taylor placed second in the prelims, but turned it on in the finals and finished first with a time of 42.08 which advanced them to state.
The 4x200m relay team of Brown, Taylor, Young and Desmond Webster placed third at 1:28.34, but still advanced to state because they turned in the fastest time of any third place finishing team across all regions.
The 4x400m relay team of Brown, Edwards, Taylor and Luke Anthony placed fourth at 3:22.04.

Varsity Girls
With only a handful of girls to begin with Atlanta’s girls’ head co0ach Jarrick Farmer was excited to take his hard-working Lady Rabbs to the regional round.
TeShuna Sheppard will make her third state appearance in four years as she sailed to a gold medal finish in the triple jump with a leap of 40 feet, 1 inch.
Pasqualita Burleson placed 16th in the shot with a toss of 28 feet, 7 1/4 inches and Haley Sprayberry placed seventh in the high jump at 5 feet even.
 Aniya King placed third in the 100m dash at 12.22; India Cooper placed 13th in the 300m hurdles at 49.11 and Hannah Wicks placed sixth in the 800m run at 2:29.25 and Daniella Arredondo placed 10th in the same event at 2:35.45.
Wicks also placed ninth in both the 1600m run and 3200m run with times of 5:52.75 and 12:35.99.
The 4x100m relay team of Aniya King, Sheppard, Alyssa Simmons and Keyona Easter placed third at 48.91; the 4x200m relay team of Jazmine Moore, Easter, King and Simmons placed third at 1:44.18 and the 4x400m relay team of Moore, Cooper, King and Simmons placed third at 1:44.18.
The state meet will take place May 12-13, in Austin.