The Brunswick High boys have gone back-to-back.
The Pirates’ track and field team won its first region championship since 1990 last year, and on Wednesday in Grovetown, BHS repeated the feat.
Brunswick’s boys won seven different competitions and compiled 167 total points en route to a runaway victory over second-place Grovetown (134) and third-place Glynn Academy (119).
“It’s great to connect the past with the present,” said Pirates head coach Brian Edwards. “The last time we went back-to-back was 1989-1990, it’s great having that as a history marker, having that as a checkpoint for our program, and having the kids actually reach that point, it was really, really awesome.
“It’s a dedication to all the hard work over the years of building the program and getting it to be respected in the area and around the state.”
Among the seven gold medals were some elite performances by any measure.
Antonio Clark Jr. won the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.00, which meets the MileSplit U.S. Second Team standard.
And the Pirates were the only program to produce a result that met the MileSplit U.S. First Team standard — twice in fact — with a couple of Glynn County records.
Brunswick’s boys 4x100m relay team of Clark Jr., Waseem Murray, Ja’Marious Towns and Nigel Gardner set the mark at 41.64 while the quartet of Antwan Kirk, Jeremiah Butler, Daron Monroe and Zion Rauls blazed a record 1:28:38 in the boys 4x200m relay.
“That’s something we were really proud of,” Edwards said. “It’s really a team effort. Everybody wanted to do their best and hit numbers to make the program look good. It’s no secret our motto this year is ‘brick by brick.’ That’s on the back of our shirts — we actually have seven bricks to represent the different area of events in track because we wanted to lay a real foundation at the beginning of the year and build upon that.”
Clark Jr., Murray and Gardner also teamed with Tavion Gadson to win the region in the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:25.08.
Individually, Monroe won gold for the Pirates in the 300m hurdles with a time of 39.57, edging out the second-place time of 39.62 by teammate Ben Jaudon, who won the 110m hurdles in 14.91.
Gardner walked away with three gold medals on the day, winning the 100m dash with a time of 11.08 in addition to his work in the relays. Clark Jr. was second in the race in 11.14, and Towns’ time of 11.23 gave Brunswick a clean sweep of the top three spots. Gardner also finished third in the 200m dash (22.58).
Daniel Zamudio placed third for the Pirates in the 1,600m run with a time of 2:34.30 while Tristan Tootle (pole vault; 10-06.00), Jaylin Pinckney (high jump; 5-10), Kavon Hill (triple jump; 43-09.00) and Kregg Richardson Jr. (discus; 127-05) each qualified for sectionals with fourth-place finishes.
The Glynn Academy boys also had a number of sectional qualifiers, including three region championship — two of which were won by freshman Hunter Jackson.
Jackson won both the 1,600m run (4:33.30) and the 3,200m run (9:57.00).
Ky’leon Bacon won the discus with a toss of 141-09, and he also placed fourth in the shot out with a distance of 43-02.00.
Maxwell Wakeland was second to his teammate in the 1,600m run with a time of 4:33.70, and he was also a part of the 4x800m relay team that — along with Noah Abarca, Cole Albright and Gradyn Goldberg — finished third in 8:40.60.
Damarion Robinson placed second in the long jump with a distance of 21-08.75, and he finished third in the triple jump with a mark of 44-01.00. Derwin Creighton also won a silver medal with a time of 15.36 in the 110m hurdles.
Cedric King finished third for the Terrors in the 400m dash with a time of 49.87, as well as in the 4x400m relay, where he joined with Creighton, Jamir Williams and Teo Duncan to run a 3:28.48.
Williams, Zion Gervais, Sean Wallace and Jonathan Richardson also qualified for sectionals with a fourth-place finish in the 4x200m relay (1:30.63), as did Ryan Young with his time of 41.43 in the 300m hurdles.
On the girls’ side of the region, Grovetown came out on top with a score of 160. Glynn Academy placed fifth overall with 64 points, and Brunswick was seventh with 56 points.
The Lady Terrors excelled in the distance runs and relays, seeing Abigail Winford take second in the 3,200m run with a time of 12:22.70 in addition to a couple of silver medal relay teams.
Emma Stutzer, Jamiya Romain, Trinity Wise and Kimaria Butler were second in the 4x200m relay with a time of 1:47.00, while the 4x800m relay team of Ruthie Atkins, Bella Pearson, Sophie Speirs, Maura Thomas ran a 10:17.62 for their second-place time.
Individually, Speirs placed third in the 800m run (2:23.13), Atkins was third in the 1,600m run (5:27.86), and Romain took third in the triple jump (34-02.50).
Stutzer qualified for sectionals with a fourth-place finish in the 400m dash (1:03.86), as did Pearson in the 1,600m run (5:28.60).
The Lady Terrors’ 4x100m relay team of Romain, Wise, Butler and Ja’Myria Joyce will also compete at sectionals after placing fourth with a time of 50.84.
Jakai Alston was the big winner for the Brunswick girls, walking away with second in the discus with a throw of 102-07, and third in the shot put with a toss of 35-03.00.
The Lady Pirates’ 4x800m relay team of Sydney Haywood, Emma Kirkland, Nijai Story and Cheyenne Crosby placed third with a time of 10:28.24, and both Savanna Wright (100m hurdles; 17.90) and Story (high jump, 4-08.00) qualified for sectionals with fourth-place finishes in their respective events.
The GHSA 6A Sectional B is set to be held May 4 in McDonough.