Liam Elliot’s discus gold highlights Deerfield-Windsor’s grit at state track meet

LOCUST GROVE — Deerfield-Windsor senior Liam Eliot captured a state championship in the boys’ discus this weekend, and teammate Benson Bridges earned a silver medal in the boys’ pole vault at Strong Rock Christian School south of Atlanta. But the Knights’ hopes for a team title were dashed earlier in the week when senior Mason Johnson suffered an injury during a soccer game.

Johnson, who won three events at the region championship in April, was expected to be a top contender at state in the triple jump, long jump, and 300-meter hurdles. He won the state title in the 300-meter hurdles as a sophomore.

“We would have easily finished second with Mason,” said Deerfield-Windsor head coach Jake Clawson. “But without him, we only took one first-place win.”

That lone victory came from Eliot, whose winning discus throw of 142 feet, 4 inches was nearly 10 feet farther than his region-winning mark of 132-8.

Bridges cleared 12 feet in the pole vault to take second place — six inches higher than his region performance of 11-6.

Other top performances for the Knights included:

• Ben Everett, eighth place in the 110-meter hurdles
• Whatley Fountain, seventh in the 800-meter run, fifth in the 1600, and third in the 3200
• Ethan Newsome, sixth in the 3200 and tenth in the 1600
• The boys’ 4×800 relay team of Jack Moore, Mangham Pippin, Ethan Newsome, and Whatley Fountain finished second and set a school record, with a time of 8:21 – 25 seconds faster than when the same boys won the region in April.
• The 4×400 relay team finished eighth.

On the girls’ side, Ella Bridges finished fifth in the pole vault, Ginna Davis placed fifth in the high jump, and the 4×800 relay team took seventh.

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