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CHULA, GA – The Southland Academy boys and girls track and field teams (SAR) took care of business in dominating fashion as they both finished far ahead of the competition at the Tiftarea Meet held at Tiftarea Academy on Wednesday, March 17, in Chula, GA.

“The kids ran great. They ran well and left it all on the track. I’m super proud of them,” said SAR head coach Nathan Hammock.

In girls’ action, the Lady Raiders finished far ahead of the rest of the competition with a total of 155 points. They finished 93 points ahead of Brookwood, who finished in second place with 62 points.

As far as the boys were concerned, the Raiders finished as meet champs with 149 points and were 47 points ahead of Tiftarea Academy, who finished in second with 102 points.

In the girls’ action, the Lady Raiders were able to win five events and finished in second place in second place in six others. In the girls’ triple jump event, SAR’s Jadie Burrell won the event, as she was able to jump 27’8 (27 feet, 8 inches). Her teammate, Elizabeth Law, finished in fourth place in the event as her best jump was a distance of 24’5. Burrell also finished strong in the high jump event as she claimed second place with a clearance of 4’4 (four feet, four inches). While she was pleased with her performance in the Triple Jump event, Burrell still felt that she put in a better showing in the event at last week’s Deerfield-Windsor Meet. “I felt confident, but not as confident as I did last week because I jumped a lot farther last week,” said Burrell. She went on to say that for some reason, she felt better the week before at DWS and was looser, which in her opinion, made the difference. In addition to her success in the triple jump and high jump events, Burrell also turned in a strong showing in the Girls 1600 Meter Run, finishing in second place in a time of 6:21. Burrell also won the Girls 800 Meter event in a time of 2:40.

In the Girls 400 Meter Run, SAR’s Maddie Crisp was able to win the event in a time of 1:06 and Morgan Minick won the Girls 200 Meter event in a time of 28.94.

In the Girls 300 Meter Hurdles, the Lady Raiders were able to sweep the event. Catie Paradise won the event in a time of 1:05, while Addison Starlin (1:07) and Mia Mixon (1:08) finished in second and third respectively.

In the Girls 4×400 Meter Relay, SAR won the event in a time of 4:56, which was nearly a minute faster than second place Tiftarea, who finished in a time of 5:43.

In boys’ action, Tanner Humphrey of SAR won both the 800 and 1600 Meter events. In the 800 meters, Humphrey beat the rest of the field in a time of 2:14 and won the 1600 in a time of 5:16. Humphrey’s teammate, Noah Sheff, finished the 1600 in third place in a time of 5:36.

In the Boys Triple Jump event, James Griffin of SAR finished in second place with a distance jump of 35’5. His teammate, Nathan Duke, finished in third place in the event in a time of 35’0. In the Boys Long Jump event, Hudson Collins was able to finish in second place with a distance jump of 19’1 and both Will Godwin and John Saye finished in second and third place respectively in the Shot Put event.

Griffin, who finished in second place in the Triple Jump, also finished second in both the 300 and 110 Meter Hurdles. Griffin’s time in the 110 was 19.51 and his time in the 300 was 49.57. Griffin’s teammate, Perry Usher, finished in third place in the 300 Meter Hurdles with a time of 50:22. SAR’s Ethan Beck was also in the event and he finished in fifth place in a time of 58:13.

In the 3200 Meter Run, SAR’s Shaw Pinnell turned in a strong performance, finishing in fourth place in a time of 13:52. His teammate, Madison DeBaise, finished right behind Pinnell in fifth with a time of 14:10.

In the Boys 400 Meter event, Ashton Ray of SAR finished in third place (56.84) and Nathan Duke was right behind him in fourth (54.81).

SAR had two teams in the Boys 4×400 Meter Relay. The SAR “A Team” won the event in a time of 4:06 and the “B Team” finished in second place in a time of 4:16.

Both the Raiders and Lady Raiders will be in action next Wednesday, March 24, at the Deerfield-Windsor Meet in Albany, GA.  After that, the SAR track and field teams will focus on an important meet at the First Presbyterian Day School in Macon, which will take place on Monday, April 5.