Deerfield-Windsor girls win GISA state title again

ALBANY —The lead for the Deerfield-Windsor Lady Knights track & field team was slim entering the final day of the Georgia Independent Schools Association state meet at Hugh Mills Stadium.

Deerfield-Windsor led by just points in the team standings.

However, that all changed Saturday afternoon as they dominated the finals of the running events to win their second straight Class AAA state title by 38 points. The Lady Knights finished with 134.5 points, while Gatewood finished second with 96.5.

The Deerfield-Windsor boys finished strong but settled as the state runner-up behind a talented field from Trinity Christian (Dublin). The Crusaders took Class AAA with 123 points, while the Deerfield-Windsor boys finished with 87.

“Our girls went out and performed,” DWS girls coach Allen Lowe said. “When you have school records broken, girls doing the best they’ve ever done, that makes it successful no matter how it ends up.”

Virginia Moore, having already broken school records in the 800 and 1600 meters, dominated the 3200 meters with a time of 12:00.34.

“My plan was to run 1:30 splits and depending on how I felt at the end, just to kick it in in the last 800. I’m happy with my performance.”

The Lady Knights also brought home a state championship in the girls 4×100-meter relay as the team of Samantha James, Tarah Young, Anna Eakes and Libby Greene ran a time of 51.45.

Greene also won state runner-up in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.77.

Meanwhile, Young and James swept the top two places in the 100-meter dash. Young was also a member of the DWS 4×400-meter relay team that won with a time of 4:12.50.

“I have a really amazing team,” Young said. “This really matters to them. This really matters to me. We really just wanted to win and we were determined.”

Young had a strong day for DWS as she also won state in the 200- and 400-meter dash.

While the DWS boys weren’t able to catch Trinity, coach Craig Rhodes was proud of his team’s effort.

“It was a great team effort,” Rhodes said. “On paper, it didn’t look like we should finish in second place, but as I tell our guys every day, ‘Leave it all on the track,’ and they did that these three days.”

DWS hurdler Aaron McNutt brought home a state title in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 15.35.

“I had a lot of tough competition this year,” McNutt said. “I just wanted to take it to another gear and make it across the finish line.”

Ridge Collins of Westwood also had a good showing in the event, finishing fifth with a time of 17.75.

McNutt also won the state title in the 300-meter hurdles, finishing at 40.70.

Collier Baggett of Westwood finished in third-place in the event with a time of 43.92.

Kaleb McLeod of Trinity Christian set a new state record in the 3200 meters with a time of 9:36.95, destroying the previous record of 9:47.64 set by Adam Tribble of Athens Christian in 1998.

Wright Calhoun of Southland finished fourth in the event with a time of 10:07.18.

“I was trying to take out Kaleb’s little brother (Jacob McLeod) fast, but I didn’t take him out at the speed I wanted to. I was a little slow, so he passed me,” Calhoun said. “Fourth place was an all-right result, but I wanted second at least.”

Ethan Merritt of DWS finished sixth with a time of 10:45.38.

Student-athletes from other area schools had good showings as well. The Panthers of Tiftarea Academy brought home a state title in the boys 4×100-meter relay, finishing with a time of 44.40, 20 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Deerfield Windsor (45.00).