Marist, North Atlanta Lead The Way After Day One Of Region Championship

1600M runners ready for the start at the GHSA 6A Region 4 Championship

Day one of the Georgia High School Association Class 6A Region 4 track and field championship wrapped on Thursday with the Marist War Eagles girls and North Atlanta Warriors boys leading in points. The Lady War Eagles kicked off the running events with a win in the 4x800M relay as they took the top spot in a time of 10:04.10, while North Atlanta took the boys 4x800M event in a time of 8:12.17. Ironically the Lady War Eagles and Warriors boys would both get second place finishes in the following event, the 110M Hurdles as Marist Alise Givens would finish with a personal record time of 16.63 and North Atlanta’s Dallas Ford would finish with a GA Top 50 time of 15.34.

And while Marist girls would not pick up another first place finish in running events until the 1600M run with Ruby Little taking home the top prize in a GA Top 10 time of 5:04.95, Warriors would get back to back championships as Carl Murray would race to a GA Top 25 finish of 10.73 for the championship, followed by the Warriors winning the Boys 4x200M in 1:29.25. “It feels good,” Murray, who has been recovering from injury, said after his win. “It shows me where I’m at right now, how much I need to work at practice,” Murray added.

The Girls 100M dash championship would go to Riverwood’s Jordyn Baxter, who finished with a GA Top 50 time of 12.40 and would also anchor the 4x200M relay team to a championship time of 1:44.80. “It feels great even though the weather’s really not on our side today, very blessed to be region champ this year,” Baxter said following her performance on Thursday. And with sectionals on deck for Baxter, the senior is focused on “keeping my drive phase, knees up, just that transition to top end speed,” Baxter said of her preparation.

By the end of day one, Marist would lead the way with 92 points to lead on the girl’s side with North Atlanta in second with 70 points. On the boys side North Atlanta leads with 111 points with Marist in second at 96 points. Day two will resume on Friday at Lakewood Stadium.