For the first time since 1990, the Brunswick High boys are the region’s track and field champions.
The Pirates sailed into Evans on Wednesday and plundered eight gold medals en route to 183 points in a dominant showing in the Region 2-6A Championship. Brunswick beat second-place Grovetown (135 points) by 48 points while Lakeside (92), Evans (89) and Glynn Academy (80) filled out the top five.
“That was a personal goal we all really wanted,” said Brunswick boys head coach Brian Edwards. “We all knew that mark was there — at Brunswick High they have the years up of the past region champions and all that great stuff, and we’ve been looking at that. That’s been our goal: To put 2023 up there this year, and so it was just great. Outstanding performances from everybody.”
Defending Class 6A high jump state champion Riyon Rankin put on a show in his return to action, besting his leap that claimed the title a year ago. Rankin set a new personal record with a jump of 7-feet, 2-inches.
There hasn’t been a higher jump in GHSA competition since Clarke Central’s Jason Cornelius cleared 7-3 in 1997. The highest jump at the Georgia state meet was 7.3-5 by Dothel Edwards in 1984.
“There is not a kid that I’ve coached that’s more humble and more deserving of what he’s getting right now,” Edwards said. “Right now, he’s tied for fifth all-time in the state of Georgia for high jump. Of course, he broke his own personal record by getting 7-2, and he almost had 7-4 — it just clipped a little bit. So there’s a couple of things we want to clean up.”
But not only was Rankin within shouting distance of a state record, he made his return to the triple jump, an event the senior hasn’t competed in since his sophomore season.
Part of a team-wide effort to do whatever it takes to earn the program’s first region title in more than three decades, Rankin alternated between his turns in the high jump and triple jump, where he won his first appearance of the year with a distance of 44-05.50.
“He’s a team guy, and at the end of the day, the team goal this year was to win the region,” Edwards said. “By the time we got to region, it was ‘Let’s pull all of the stops out and go win this team event.’
“He jumped his 10th-grade year, so we’ve been talking about it… Everybody just kept saying, ‘Whatever we can do to get the team goal.’”
That all-for-one energy radiated throughout the Pirates’ team with many of the athletes competing in multiple events.
In addition to Rankin, Brunswick freshman Antwan Kirk took home multiple gold medals, winning the 400-meter dash with a school-record time of 50.09, and joining Tae Gadson, Zae Harrison and Daron Monroe to form the program’s region-winning 4x400m relay team, which placed first in 3:26.14.
Along with his hand in the relay, Monroe also won the long jump with a distance of 21-05.00.
Filling out Brunswick’s list of first-place competitors were Devon Cummings, who won the 110m hurdles in 15.37 and placed third in the 300m hurdles in 42.29, Ivan Johnson, who took first in the 300m hurdles in 41.46 and placed third in the 110m hurdles with a time of 15.81, and J’Shawn Towns, whose toss of 136-09 won the discus throw.
J’Shawn Towns also took silver with a throw of 45-05.50 in the shot put with teammate Andrew Magalski coming in third at 43-10.00.
Kavon Hill managed to earn silver in both the long jump (20-03.25) and the triple jump (43-02.75). Jamarious Towns placed third in the 100m dash with a time of 11.03, and Daniel Zamudio broke a school record with a time of 10:05.17 in the 3,200m run en route to the bronze.
Monroe cleared 6-00 to place third in the high jump in addition to his third-place finish as part of the 4x200m relay team with Kirk, Jeremiah Butler and Zion Rauls, who ran the race in 1:31.34.
Entering the day, not even Edwards suspected such a commanding performance from his team.
“You always think that you’re going to go and perform well, and I could kind of tell just by how we’ve been doing this season, but to see the results, see how they fared, and the eight region champions, we were really blown away,” Edwards said. “Because we haven’t been as dominant all throughout the year as we’ve wanted to in meets. So to finally have everybody in one place to have the kids go in race, we had so many PRs, so I just really appreciate all the hard work from the coaches as well as the kids performing.
“To say that I expected that, I can’t say that. But what I can say is, I was just so happy everything came to fruition.”
The Glynn Academy boys also walked away from the Region 2-6A Meet with six medals — two earned by Maxwell Wakeland, who placed second in the 1,600m run with a time of 4:31.36 before teaming up with Joseph Barnes, Cole Albright and Jaylin Williams to finish third in the 4x800m relay in 8:25.66.
Tyree Chisolm’s time of 15.49 was good for second place in the 110m hurdles, and teammate Ryan Young finished second in the 300m hurdles in 41.47.
The Terrors’ Cedric King earned third place in the 400m dash with a time of 50.60, and Damarion Robinson claimed his bronze medal with a triple jump of 43-01.75.
GIRLS
The Grovetown girls won the Region 2-6A Meet with a score of 137, edging out second-place South Effingham by a single point. Lakeside Evans was third with 127 points, Glynn Academy (100) placed fourth, and Brunswick High (87) finished fifth.
Glynn’s Lexi Alberson won the region championship in the 1,600m run with a time of 5:41.50, and she served as the anchor of the gold medal-winning 4x800m relay team consisting of Sophie Speirs, Kelsey Lewis, Lacey Reedy and herself, which set a school record with its time of 10:24.61.
Speirs, Alberson and Reedy each placed second, third and fourth, respectively, in the 800m run. Speirs finishing the race in 20:30.73, Alberson was at 2:36.73, and Reedy just behind at 2:36.85.
Glynn Academy’s 4x200m relay team of Camille Gray, Jamiya Romain, Messiah Thomas and Kimaria Butler placed third with a time of 1:49.80.
For Brunswick, Shanyece Quick took home a silver medal in the shot put with a throw of 32-11.00, and she also added a bronze with a toss of 85-06.50 in the discus toss. Shakaylan Pinkston placed third in the shot put with a throw of 32-08.00.
Kymani Fuller and Tamaya Elkins each claimed a trio of bronze medals for the Pirates’ girls as well. Fuller was third in the 100m dash (12.71) and the 200m dash (26.04), while Elkins placed third in the 400m dash (1:02.62) and the triple jump (31-06.00).
Both Fuller and Elkins were also part of the third-place 4x100m relay team, running the race with Rihanna Smith and Ciara Attical in 50.19. Brunswick’s team of Emma Kirkland, Nijai Story, Brianna Shuman and Younique Lewis also placed third in the 4x800m relay in a time of 11:00.02.
All top four finishers at the Region 2-6A Meet will advance on to Sectional A in Winder on May 6.