Fayette County High School girls track and field team place third at GHSA state championships
FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. (BVM) — The girls of Fayette County High School were able to pull a unique third place finish at the 4A State Championship this year, with only six girls competing and five scoring for the team title.
The two seniors, the one junior, the one sophomore and the lone freshman were able to score a total of 54 points to overtake their competitors for a third place trophy. Imani Moore placed first in the long jump and triple jump, Amara Nwajagu placed sixth in the 200m and second in the 400m, Sidney Bohls placed eighth in the 800m, Jasmine Harmon placed first in the 100 hurdles and Nicole Kutob placed seventh in the 400m. Moore, Nwajagu, Bohls and Kutob were all part of the 4×400 team that placed first.
At the 4A region track meet, the girls placed first overall, with a total of 178 points, way ahead of their runner-up, Riverdale High School, which rounded out with 120 team points. In the 100-meter dash, Nia Hence placed first, Jhanya Chenault placed second and Naomi White placed third. In the 200-meter dash Jasmine Harmon placed first, Amara Nwajagu placed second and Nia Hence placed third. In the 400-meter dash, Amara Nwajagu placed first and Nicole Kutob placed second.
It’s clear that these girls were dominating the region track meet, as there were first, second, and third places finishes in virtually every event. The points were racking up for the Fayette County girls team as they stole the potential for other teams to earn points.
In the 800-meter run, Sydney Bohles placed first and Ciara Sulton placed third. In the 1600-meter run, Sidney Bohles placed first and Ciara Sulton placed second. In the 3200-meter run, Ciara Sulton placed first. In the 100-meter hurdles, Jasmine Harmon placed first. Tierra Jenkins placed third in the high jump, Imani Moore placed first in the long jump and triple jump, and both 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams placed first.
The Fayette County girls came back two weeks later to the sectional track meet to compete in the series to state championships. The sectional track meet is different from region in that the top four athletes in each event from regionals advance to sectionals to compete against a larger body of athletes, some that they have not competed against at all throughout the entire season. Competition becomes more challenging from regionals to sectionals. No medals are awarded, nor are team points totaled. This track meet is specifically about qualifying for state.
In sectionals, Amara Nwajagu placed first in the 400-meter dash and first in the 200-meter dash, Jasmine Harmon placed first in the 100-meter hurdles, Imani Moore placed first in the long jump and triple jump, and the girls placed first in the 4×400 meter relay.
With all sports comes unforeseen injuries. This was definitely the case for many of the Fayette athletes.
One of which, Jasmine Harmon faced a torn ACL which prevented her from competing in the beginning of the season, but was able to recover to compete throughout the season. However, she was unfortunately unable to compete in all of her events due to a later shin injury.
Because of Harmon’s injury, she had to be replaced in the 4×100 at the sectional track meet. Relays require loads of practice for synchrony, but because of the last minute replacement, the 4×100 team’s handoffs were off and the team got disqualified at the regional track meet by running out of the exchange zone.
Nevertheless, the girl’s team pushed forward and trained hard to perform well at state. They overcame many adversities and challenges throughout the season, and were able to pull through and place third as a team at the state championships.
