Americus-Sumter and Southland Academy turn in strong results at Deerfield-Windsor Meet

Published 11:07 pm Thursday, March 11, 2021

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ALBANY – Both the Americus-Sumter (ASHS) and Southland Academy (SAR) boys and girls track and field teams turned in strong performances at the Deerfield-Windsor Meet held on Wednesday, March 10, at the Deerfield-Windsor School (DWS) in Albany, GA.

As far as the team standings were concerned, the SAR boys finished in second place with 82 points and were 163 points behind meet winners DWS (245). The Panthers finished right behind the Raiders in third place with 70 points.

On the girls’ side, DWS won the meet with 232 points, but the Raiders finished in second place with 94 points, while ASHS finished in fourth place with 36 points and were just two points shy of third place finishers Westwood.

“This year, the girls’ team is a young team and we are rebuilding and working through injuries and focusing on strength and skill development,” said ASHS girls’ head coach Shanika Dyson.  “They did great today for this to be our second meet of the season.” Dyson went on to say that ASHS senior Selliyah Owens always has good performances and that she did not disappoint in the 200 Meter Dash.  Owens indeed did not disappoint, as she was able to win the event in a time of 26.85. Owens also had a strong performance in the 100 Meter Dash as she finished in third place in a time of 13.5, which was just slightly ahead of fourth place finisher Morgan Minick of SAR (13.95). Minick faired slightly better in the 200 Meter Dash, finishing in third place in a time of 28.84.

Americus-Sumter sprinter Griffin Toms (blue) tries to hold off Max Foster of Southland Academy (yellow) in the Boys 800 Meter Run at the Deerfield-Windsor Meet. Foster eventually overtook Toms to finish in third place in the event.
Photo by Ken Gustafson

In the Girls Long Jump, Shakyra Pride of ASHS finished in third place with her best jump being 12-03.50. Pride was three inches ahead of fourth place finisher Catie Paradise of SAR, who finished slightly ahead of her teammate Elizabeth Law (11-10.50). Jasmine White of ASHS also turned in a strong showing by finishing behind Law in sixth place (11-06.00). Paradise also turned in a strong showing in the 300 Meter Hurdles by finishing in third place in a time of 01:10.7.

In the Girls Triple Jump, SAR’s Jadie Burrell finished in third place with her best jump being 27-10.00. Burrell also jumped three feet and four inches farther than her teammate Elizabeth Law, who finished the event in fifth place (24-06.00).

Burrell also had a strong showing in the Girls High Jump, finishing in second place with a jump of 4-09.00. Burrell also won the Girls 1600 Meter Run (06:00.2) and the 800 Meter Run (2:40) at the DWS Meet.

Southland Academy T&F athlete Jadie Burrell competes in the Girls Triple Jump at the DWS Meet. Burrell finished in third place in that event and finished in second place in the Girls High Jump.
Photo by Carol Burrell

Morgan Minick, who finished in fourth place in the 100 Meter Dash and third in the 200, turned in a solid performance in the Girls Pole Vault event. Minick was able to clear seven feet, which was good enough for second place. Minick’s SAR teammates, Addison Starlin and Brylie Redding, did extremely well in the Shot Put competition. Starlin finished in fourth place with a distance throw of 30-08.00, while Redding finished in sixth place with a distance throw of 28-03.50. Cyniah McCrary of ASHS finished in fifth place just ahead of Redding with a throw of 29-03.00.

Starlin did much better in the Discus event, so much so that she won the event with a distance throw of 81-05.00. McCrary, who was also in the event, finished in sixth place with a throw of 53-08.00.

Southland Academy hurdler Ethan Beck finished in sixth place in both the 110 and 300 Meter Hurdles at the Deerfield-Windsor Meet.
Photo by Ken Gustafson

In the Girls 400 Meter Dash, Jakierra Pride of ASHS turned in a strong performance by finishing in fourth place in a time of 01:16.3. Her teammate, Jasmine White, finished right behind Pride in fifth place in a time of 01:17.9. Taylor Humphrey of SAR finished right behind White in sixth place (01:24.7).

In addition to her strong performances in the Long Jump and Triple Jump events, SAR’s Elizabeth Law finished in fourth place in the Girls 800 Meter Run with a time of 02:54.8. Law was just two seconds shy of third place finisher Gabrielle Ellis of DWS, who finished the race in a time of 02:52.9. Rebecca Wood of ASHS also turned in a solid performance by finishing in seventh place in the 800 Meter Run.

Americus-Sumter sprinter Shakyra Pride finished third in the Girls Long Jump at the Deerfield-Windsor Meet.
Photo by Ken Gustafson

In the Girls 4X100 Meter Relay event, SAR finished in second place and they took second in the 4×400 Meter Relay as well.

In boys’ action, ASHS senior Christian Waymon won the 100 Meter Dash with a time of 11.18. His teammate, Jawaski Whitehead, finished in fourth place in the event with a time of 11.81. Hudson Collins of SAR also turned in a strong performance, as he finished the event in fifth place in a time of 11.94.

Waymon also won the 200 Meter Dash for ASHS as he finished in a time of 23.37. His teammate, Braylon Green, wasn’t too far behind as he finished in second place with a time of 23.56. Collins, who finished in fifth place in the 100 Meter Dash, also finished fifth in the 200 in a time of 25.26.

Americus-Sumter’s Rebecca Wood competes in the Girls 800 Meter Run at the DWS Meet. Wood finished in seventh place with a time of 03:14.5.
Photo by Ken Gustafson

While Green may have had to settle for second place in the 200, that was not the case in the Boys 400 Meter Dash. Green won the event in a time of 51.38. SAR sprinters Nathan Duke (55.01) and Ashton Ray (58.06) finished the event in third and fourth place respectively and ASHS sprinter Michael Johnson finished right behind Ray in fifth place in a time of 59.12.

SAR senior Max Foster turned in a solid performance for the Raiders in the Boys 800 Meter Run. Foster finished in third place in a time of 02:21.2. Matthew Toms of ASHS finished right behind Foster in fourth place in a time of 02:21.6.

Tanner Humphrey of SAR finished right behind Toms in the event in fifth place (02:23.1), but had a much better showing in the Boys 1600 Meter Run. Humphrey was able to win the event in a time of 05.05.8. Humphrey’s SAR teammate, Noah Sheff, finished the 1600 in fourth place in a time of 05:38.8.

Southland’s Jadie Burrell competed in both the 400 and 800 Meter Runs at the DWS Meet. Burrell won both the Girls 800 Meter and 1600 Meter Runs.
Photo by Ken Gustafson

In the Boys 110 Meter Hurdles, SAR’s Ethan Beck finished in sixth place with a time of 25.06. Beck also finished in sixth place in the Boys 200 Meter Hurdles in a time of 59.72.

In the Boys Long Jump event, three Raiders turned in solid performances. Hudson Collins finished in second place by jumping 17-10.00 and his teammates, Noah Sheff and Barrett Starlin, finished in fifth and sixth place respectively. Sheff was able to jump 14-11.50 and Starlin was able to jump a distance of 13-90.00.

In the Boys Triple Jump, SAR teammates Nathan Duke and James Griffin finished in fourth and fifth place respectively. Duke was able to jump 35-02.50, while Griffin cleared 34-05.00 for a fifth place finish.

Two more Raider athletes had strong showings in the Boys High Jump event. Senior Owen Exley finished in third place by jumping a height of 5-07.00 and his teammate, Colman Fort, jumped a height of 5-06.00, which was good enough for fourth place.

In the Boys Pole Vault event, Hunter Hockman of SAR finished in fifth place by clearing seven feet, while his teammate, John Saye, won the Boys Shot Put event with a distance throw of 38-02.00.

Saye also had a strong showing in the Boys Discus event as he finished in sixth place with a distance throw of 77-00. His SAR teammate, Will Godwin, finished slightly ahead of Saye in fifth place with a distance throw of 80-10.

In the Boys 4×100 Meter Relay, the ASHS Panthers finished in second place with a time of 46.75, while the SAR “A” and “B” teams finished the event in third and fourth place respectively (50.03 and 52.26).

Finally, in the Boys 4×400 Meter Relay event, ASHS was able to take second place with a time of 03:57.5 and the SAR “A” Team finished the event in third place in a time of 04:07.0.