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Photo by Jody Pierson/Staff Highlands’ Margaret Cole hands off the baton to teammate Nicole Taylor during the Tri-State Middle School Track Championship at Rabun Gap on Saturday. Highlands and Tallulah Falls battled back and forth to the final event in the team competition.
While track and field is generally thought of as an individual sport, Highlands School head track coach Brett Lamb was worried about the team standings during the Tri-State Middle School Track Championships at Rabun Gap on Saturday.
Despite having less team members than Tallulah Falls, Highlands was right in the thick of a points race as the meet wore on.
“We use a timing service and they have an app that updates after each event, so about a minute after the event ends the team scores refresh,” Lamb said. “We were leading most of the day on the girls side, but we ran into a stretch of events where we either didn’t have anyone entered, or maybe only had one person.”
Tallulah Falls was able to take the points lead following the 4-by-800 meter relay and held on for a 96-89 win over Highlands. Neither Rabun Gap nor Summit Charter had enough girls to register a team score.
On the boys side of the team ledger, Tallulah Falls finished with 110 points. Highlands tallied 102 points and summit Charter finished with 31 points.
“During the meet I had several of our athletes come up and tell me they beat their personal record, which is great in the final meet of the year,” Lamb said. “I am really proud of both teams because they worked hard and continued to improve as the season went on.”
Highlands did not have a track team at the high school level in 2022, but Lamb hopes that will change in 2023 following the successful middle school season.
“We have had teams in the past with as few as 10 members, which makes it an individual endeavor since we don’t have enough athletes to win the team standings,” Lamb said. “Murphy, Swain and some of the other 1A teams have two full buses worth of kids. But that doesn’t mean our kids can’t be competitive in their events.”
Tri-State Middle School Track Championship
Team standings
Girls: Tallulah Falls 96, Highlands 89
Boys: Tallulah Falls, 110, Highlands 102, Summit 31
Highlands Individuals:
Girls
Shot put: Margaret Cole, 1st
High Jump: Claire Sherwood, 1st; Nicole Taylor, 2nd
Discus: Margaret Cole, 2nd
Long Jump: Cayden Pierson, 1st; Charlotte Westendorf, 2nd
100M : Cayden Pierson, 1st; , Charlote Westendorf, 4th
4 X 200 Relay: Highlands, 1st
4 X 100 Relay: Highlands, 1st
300 Hurdles: Claire Worley, 2nd
200 M: Claire Worley, 3rd; Charlotte Westendorf, 4th
4 X 400 Relay: Highlands, 1st
Boys
Long Jump: Isaiah Vilardo, 1st; Paolo McRae, 3rd
Shot Put: Jim Dela Cruz, 3rd
High Jump: Isaiah Vilardo, 1st; Timmy McDowell, 2nd; Paolo McRae, 3rd
Triple Jump: Bryan Colmaneras, 1st
4 X 200 Relay: Highlands, 2nd
1600 M: Timmy McDowell, 1st; Ryder Stubblefield, 4th
4 X 100 Relay: Highlands, 1st
400 M: Jim Dela Cruz, 1st
800 M: Timmy McDowell, 1st
200 M: Bryan Colmaneras, 2nd; Jim Dela Cruz, 3rd
4 X 400 Relay: Highlands, 1st
- By Ryan Hanchett