Hobbled Cats find way to win crown

Published 10:55 pm Tuesday, May 2, 2006

Dalton trailed Gordon Central by two points with one event — the grueling 4×400 relay — remaining in the Region 7-4A track meet at Dalton High on Tuesday.

Stephaun Raines was sick.

Jeremy Harris was hobbling around taped up with an ice pack on his left groin.

The Cats needed a fourth-place finish or better to win coach Scott Thompson’s first regional title.

The patchwork lineup — Justin Weaver, Daniel Tinson, Raines and Roger Newton — got a second.

“We were 30 points behind after the field events,” Thompson said. “I was confident we could make it close, but wasn’t for sure about winning. When Jeremy got hurt I was a little nervous.”

He shouldn’t have been.

With the second-place finish in a time of 3:32.13, less than a second behind event winner Woodland, the Cats finished with 86 points, relegating the Warriors to second with 80. Hiram was third with 68, Woodland fourth with 67 and Northwest Whitfield rounded out the top five with 41 points. Murray had 18 points in ninth and Southeast was 13th with six.

Nobody was more proud of the Cats’ relay team than Harris, who came up lame after his ffith-place run in the 200 meters.

“I’m so proud of those guys,” Harris said. “I told them to win for me. We’re going to state and it’s a wonderful feeling.”

John Bruner’s fourth-place finish (10:48.01) in the 3,200 meters was worth four points and pulled the Cats to within two points, 80-78, of Gordon Central heading into the final event.

Raines followed up his long-jump win on Monday by sweeping the 100- and 200-meter runs and running the third leg of the 4×400 relay.

“The coaches keep telling me to relax and run my races,” Raines said between the 100 and 200 events. “A sweep would be great and if that happens I’ll be too excited to talk.”

Well, Raines and his teammates were busy celebrating as darkness fell on the Dalton High track.

Raines qualified for the state meet in four events — 100, 200, 4×400 relay and the long jump.

Harris captured the 400 meters in 50.28 seconds to qualify in that event. Roger Newton earned a spot in Jefferson by finishing second in the 800 with a time of 2:03.75.

“I’ve really been trying to break the school record (49.8) in the 400,” said Harris, who has been running track since the sixth grade at Dalton Middle School. “My time has been dropping all year, but I’m going to state and that’s a real honor.”

Murray County’s Cameron Hudson won his specialty, the 110 hurdles, and also a place in the state meet. Hudson, beaten only once this season in the hurdles, ran a 15.3.

Just prior to the hurdles, Hudson finished seventh in the 100 meters in 11.38.

“It’s pretty tough to run back-to-back events,” Hudson said. “This is am amazing feeling, going to state. A 15.28 was my fastest time before today. I’ve thought about this all day and when I got here I was a little nervous. I hope to get a top five at state.”

Meet officials were giving Hudson a little extra time, but within a few minutes Hudson was ready to run. He won by three-tenths of a second over Brendan Sellers of Rome.

Northwest Whitfield’s distance specialist Leighton Steadman finished second in the 1,600 meters with a 4:41.68 and joines pole vaulter Nate Woodason in going to the state meet. Woodason finished second with a 12-0.

“I beat my best previous time by six seconds, and I feel real good about that,” Steadman said.

Woodason, a sophomore who turned 16 last month, was shooting for a personal-best of 12-6, but came up short.

“I guess I’ll just save it for state,” he said. “I tried my best. I’m really excited about going to state. I’ve never been before.”

The top two finishers in each event qualify for the state meet.



egion 74-A Track

Boys, at Dalton High

May 1-2



Field Events

High Jump

1. Josh Wilson, Gordon Central, 6-2; 2. Patrick Bryant, Gordon Central, 6-0; 3. Brian Williams, Hiram, 5-10; 4. Josh Keaton, Murray County, 5-10; 5. Damien Chaney, Southeast, 5-8; 6. Clay Turner, Ridgeland, 5-8; 6. Josey Cooper, Ringgold, 5-8.

Shot Put

1. Will Sullivan, Gordon Central, 48-1 1/2; 2. Jerome Arnold, Hiram, 45-5 1/2; 3. Justin Shaw, Woodland, 45-3; 4. Jason Bunch, Dalton, 44-3 1/2; 5. Brandon Jackson, Hiram, 44-2; 6. Barry Kirby, Gordon Central, 44-1 1/2.

Long Jump

1. Stephaun Raines, Dalton, 20-8; 2. Phillip Adams, Woodland, 20-6 1/2; 3. Josh Campbell, Woodland, 20-1 1/4; 4. Montea Pullom, Ridgeland, 20-1; 5. Coshik Williams, Hiram, 19-8 1/2; 6. MacKenzie Beal, Gordon Central, 19-4 1/2.

Discus

1. Brandon Jackson, Hiram, 147-5; 2. Dustin Bruce, Gordon Central, 141-5; 3. Warren Shepard, Northwest Whitfield, 135-8 1/2; 4. Paul Whaley, Murray County, 135-5 1/2; 5. Andy Carter, Woodland, 125-0; 6. Brian McGarity, Hiram, 122-4.

Triple Jump

1. Montea Pullom, Ridgeland, 43-7 3/4; 2. Phillip Adams, Woodland, 42-8; 3. Brian Williams, Hiram, 42-3 3/4; 4. Josh Edwards, Paulding County, 42-3 1/2; 5. Coshik Williams, Hiram, 41-8 1/2; 6. Anthony Roopnauth, Dalton, 41-3 1/2.

Pole Vault

1. Rob Cofer, LFO, 12-0; 2. Nate Woodason, Northwest Whitfield, 12-0; 3. Luis Barajas, Dalton, 11-0; 4. Richard Miller ,Gordon Central, 11-0; 5. Patrick Bryant, Gordon Central, 11-0; 6. Jeffrey Bryant, Woodland, 10-0.



Running Events

1,600 meters

1. Brady Bennett, Rome, 4:40.02; 2. Leighton Steadman, Northwest Whitfield, 4:41.68; 3. Josh Bradley, LFO, 4:41.90; 4. Daniel Grass, Dalton, 4:47.26; 5. Ben Shipley, Rome, 4:54.81; 6. Josh Tatum, Gordon Central, 4:55.34.

4×100 Relay

Gordon Central, 43.49; 2. Hiram, 43.51; 3. Woodland, 43.98; 4. East Paulding, 44.18; 5. Hiram ‘B’, 44.19; 6. Southeast (Person, Thomason, Ridley, Jackson), 44.46.

400 Meters

1. Jeremy Harris, Dalton, 50.28; 2. Lorenzo Burney, Hiram, 51.12; 3. Josh Wilson, Gordon Central, 51.50; 4. Phillip Adams, Woodland, 52.20; 5. Dave Taylor, Paulding County; 6. Justin Weaver, Dalton, 52.72.

100 Meters

1. Stephaun Raines, Dalton, 11.01; 2. Jesse Thompson, Gordon Central, 11.08; 3. Quinn Marsh, Ringgold, 11.14; 4. Alex Gainous, East Paulding, 11.16; 5. Michael Jackson, Woodland, 11.18; 6. Coshik Williams, Hiram, 11.29.

110 Hurdles

1. Cameron Hudson, Murray County, 15-3; 2. Brendan Sellers, Rome, 15.62; 3. Micah Earnest, Gordon Central, 15.82; 4. Gavin Pack, Gordon Central, 16.0; 5. Ramone Green, Hiram, 16.03; 6. Joseph Bearden, Ringgold, 16.13.

800 Meters

1. Josh Bradley, LFO, 2:00.85; 2. Roger Newton, Dalton, 2:03.75; 3. Daniel Grass, Dalton, 2:04.20; 4. Jacob Nunn, Paulding County; 5. Ben Harrison, East Paulding, 2:07.02; 6. Cordell Cole, Southeast, 2:08.57.

200 Meters

1.Stephaun Raines, Dalton, 22.38; 2. Alex Gainous, East Paulding, 22.46; 3. Michael Jackson, Woodland, 22.60; 4. Andrecus Lindley, Hiram, 23.08; 5. Jeremy Harris, Dalton, 23.35; 6. Dave Taylor, Paulding County, 23.36.

300 Hurdles

1. Joseph Bearden, Ringgold, 40.93; 2. Josh Campbell, Woodland, 41.01; 3. Cameron Griffin, Northwest Whitfield, 41.21; 4. Chase Cole, Paulding County, 41.28; 5. Daniel Tinson, Dalton, 41.58; 6. Micah Earnest, Gordon Central, 42.53.

3,200 Meters

1. Dustin Murphy, Rome, 10:12.22; 2. Leighton Steadman, Northwest Whitfield, 10:14.18; 3. Brady Bennett, Rome, 10:15.62; 4. John Bruner, Dalton, 10:48.01; 5. Jake Bradley, LFO, 10:50.25; 6. Cody Carlson, Northwest Whitfield, 10:59.04.

4×400 Relay

1. Woodland, 3:31.66; 2. Dalton (Weaver, Tinson, Raines, Newton), 3:32.13; 3. Hiram, 3:32.96; 4. Northwest (Griffin, Haynes, Bragg, Person), 3:37.55; 5. Southeast (Robbins, Cole, Roberts, Carreon), 3:37.77; 6. Ringgold, 3:38.34.



Team Scoring

1. Dalton, 86; 2. Gordon Central, 80; 3. Hiram, 68; 4. Woodland, 67; 5. Northwest Whitfield, 41; 6. Rome, 36; 7. LFO, 28; 8. Ringgold, 18.5; 9. East Paulding, 18; 9, Murray County, 18; 11. Paulding County, 15; 12, Ridgeland, 14.5; 13. Southeast, 6.