Trackster Excels at State

Jasper County High School’s track team sent several student athletes to Jefferson last week to compete in the GHSA boy’s track and field state championships which culminated with the Georgia Olympics with top athletes from more than 300 schools.

Having narrowly missed a top 10 finish in the 1600m with a time of 4:54.49, Hurricane junior Brandon Stewart came back to prove himself a force to be reckoned with as he raced to a new personal record and fourth place spot on the state podium in the 800m run.

Coaches Gary Cooper and William Thomas were “very pleased” with his time of 2:01.19. Stewart finishes his season ranked sixth for this event in all of the Georgia AA league, regardless of student class.

100m sprinter and senior Lane Thomas barely missed qualifying to run in the finals, clocking a time of 11.18 for a ninth place finish in the preliminary heats (a top eight finish is required to continue to the final heat).

The 4×100 relay team of John Davis, Cameron Davis, Jay Johnson and Thomas saw similar disappointment against tough competition, clocking in with an impressive 43.54 second run in the preliminary heats that was only edged into ninth place by .04 seconds.

In field events, the Canes were represented well by sophomore Jay Johnson, who completed a long jump of 19-10.5 for 12th place.

Coaches Cooper and Thomas are proud of the boys’ achievements and are already looking forward to reaching new goals next year. All but senior Thomas, who graduated the day after the competition, will return next season.

“Coach Thomas and I feel that these boys did great,” said Mr. Cooper.