Woodland’s girls (101 points), a freshmen-heavy group in 2011, edged out Johns Creek (95.5) behind a team still led by a young roster, including sophomore Idraiah Thompson, who was one of six Lady Wildcat individual sectionals qualifiers. Thompson qualified for the Class AAAA west sectionals by winning the 100 meter dash and 200 meter dash with times of 12.46 and 25.52 seconds, respectively.
Cass’ Janee Callahan also took home a region championship in the girls shot put, recording a distance of 36 feet, 8 1/4 inches on her best throw. Callahan was joined by teammate Amber Bowen as a state qualifier. Bowen had already qualified for sectionals Wednesday in the triple jump and added the 100 meter hurdles to the list Friday when she ran a 16.48, placing second.
The Lady Colonels finished eighth with 31 points. Rounding out the standings for the region girls meet were Northwest Whitfield, 90, third; Creekview, 74.5, fourth; Rome, 62, fifth; Chattahoochee, 51, sixth; Lambert, 47.5, seventh; South Forsyth, 30, ninth; Forsyth Central, 21, 10th; and Sequoyah, 19.5, 11th.
“It was exciting for the girls. They worked real hard to get back to this point,” Woodland boys coach Adrian Steele said. “I think they were really upset last year [at] not being able to bring the trophy home, so this year they were determined.”
The Lady Wildcats, he said, got great leadership from senior Rachel Mez, who was in the 800 meter run, and from Thompson. Additionally, they got great performances from Lacey Fritz — who qualified along with teammate Gabby Pearson in the discus throw Wednesday — and 400 meter dash runner Katie Harris, who also was on the 4x400 meter relay team, which ran a season-best time.
“It just seems like when you get to region, you step your game up,” Steele continued. “Idraiah, she is back to form. She broke both of her previous records and her cousin Chayna’s record in the 100.”
The coach said he is looking forward to watching Thompson compete Saturday in the sectionals at Starr’s Mill High, which will feature regions 1, 3 and 5 along with 7. “I think she’s ready for the challenge,” he added.
Also sure to be up for the challenge will be the Wildcats, who will look for a bounce-back effort at sectionals after relinquishing their region crown to the host school.
Johns Creek (148) placed ahead of last year’s winner Woodland (129) by 19 points.
“I was proud of ’em,” Steele said of his team. “I knew going in it was gonna be a dogfight between us and them. Giving credit to Johns Creek, they are a well-rounded team. They were able to his us where we were weak at. … They were able to exploit that.”
“My guys were disappointed, and so was I because those guys have really turned around Woodland track,” he added of a class that has gone 26-4 in meets, won a region championship and came in as region runner-up twice. “They came in as freshmen and immediately made an impact.”
Woodland’s boys failed to score in the 800, 1600 and 3200, events where the since-graduated Cameron Leonard used to help out. Aside from that, the Wildcats also didn’t get points from a couple of throwers who have performed well all season.
“R.J. [Stahl] didn’t throw as well as he could, neither did DaMek [Lewis], but I don’t think that would have made the difference,” Steele admitted.
The Wildcats had 10 individual qualifiers for sectionals, led by region winners C.J. Woods (100 meter dash), Xavier Hendricks (110 meter hurdles), Deo Adams (300 meter hurdles) and Brandon Thompson (high jump). The Woodland boys 4x100 relay team also came in first place, breaking a school record it had set earlier this year at a Gordon Central meet.
Adams shined as the male performer of the meet, also finishing second in the triple jump and fifth in the long jump, not to mention spearheading a runner-up finish in the 4x400 relay.
“He was the one that got us caught … up in the 4x4,” Steele said of the relay team’s season-best time. “He’s peaking at the right time.”
Cass’ boys didn’t have any qualifiers for sectionals. Freshman Jaison Morning appeared to place in the top four Wednesday in the 3200 meter run but was later disqualified for running inside the track. The Colonels placed 10th with 11 points.
Other teams in the standings were South Forsyth, 75, third; Northwest Whitfield, 56, fourth; Creekview, 51, fifth; Lambert, 46, sixth; Chattahoochee, 41, seventh; Sequoyah, 40, eighth; Forsyth Central, 22, ninth; and Rome, 3, 11th.
Below are the remainder of the results from Friday’s Region 7-AAAA events.
In other region track news, Adairsville High qualified five athletes from the Region 7-AA meet held Monday and Wednesday. Tinsley Smith (100 meter hurdles) and Baylee Edwards (long jump) made it to the Class AA west sectionals at Greater Atlanta Christian for the Lady Tigers, and Austin Harrell (discus throw), Zach Coker (high jump, shot put) and Christian Howell (110 meter hurdles, triple jump).
At the Region 7-AAA meet on Thursday, Cartersville’s boys and girls both finished in fourth place with 71 and 50 points, respectively. Caroline Haupt won the 100 meter hurdles while also qualifying in the 300 hurdles and long jump, and Olajuwon Harris won the 110 meter hurdles and made it through in the 300 hurdles as well. Also qualifying were Dorie Brunzelle (800, 1600), Blake Perry (triple jump), Roger Herrera (800), Dandrea Quattlebaum (high jump), Kyle Parker (shot put) and the 4x400 meter relay team.
GIRLS 100 METER DASH
FIRST — Idraiah Thompson, Woodland, 12.46; FOURTH — Jasmin Askew, Woodland, 12.95
GIRLS 200 METER DASH
FIRST — Idraiah Thompson, Woodland, 25.52; FOURTH — Jasmin Askew, Woodland, 27.28
GIRLS 3200 METER RUN
THIRD — Ashley Barrera, Woodland, 12:02
GIRLS 100 METER HURDLES
SECOND — Amber Bowen, Cass, 16.48
GIRLS 4x400 METER RELAY
THIRD — Woodland ‘A’ 4:09.94
GIRLS HIGH JUMP
FOURTH — Brianna Brown, Woodland, 5-0
GIRLS POLE VAULT
THIRD — Samantha Patterson, Woodland, 9-6
GIRLS LONG JUMP
FOURTH — Ariana Lovins, Woodland, 15-7 1/2
GIRLS SHOT PUT
FIRST — Janee Callahan, Cass, 36-8 1/4
BOYS 100 METER DASH
FIRST — C.J. Woods, Woodland, 10.98; FOURTH — Josh Young, Woodland, 11.28
BOYS 200 METER DASH
THIRD — C.J. Woods, Woodland, 22.73
BOYS 400 METER DASH
THIRD — Twan Terrell, 50.65
BOYS 110 METER HURDLES
FIRST — Xavier Hendricks, Woodland, 15.13
BOYS 300 METER HURDLES
FIRST — Deo Adams, Woodland, 39.02
BOYS 4x100 METER RELAY
FIRST — Woodland ‘A’ 42.27; FOURTH — Woodland ‘B’ 44.29
BOYS 4x400 METER RELAY
SECOND — Woodland ‘A’ 3:26
BOYS HIGH JUMP
FIRST — Brandon Thompson, Woodland, 6-4; SECOND — Qua Stocks, Woodland, 6-4
BOYS POLE VAULT
THIRD — Bryce Marratta, Woodland, 12-0
BOYS TRIPLE JUMP
SECOND — Deo Adams, Woodland, 44-4; THIRD — Trey Thompson, 42-3 1/2