The Columbia Academy track teams had a good showing in the MAIS AAA State Championship April 30 and May 1.
Lizzie Sullivan won the championship in the girls long jump with a jump of 16’5”. Sullivan also tied for fourth in the high jump and finished fourth in the 100-meter dash.
The girls 4x800 relay team of Natalie Ragan, Madelyn McKenzie, Macy Robertson and Charlee Brees Franks took the gold in a dominating performance. They won the event by 30 seconds in a CA school record time of 10:44.82.
The 4x400 Relay team of Ragan, Madison Bond, Blair Pounds and Macy Robertson finished second. Their time of 4:32 broke a 10-year-old CA school record.
Robertson finished second in the 800-meter with a personal record time of 2:35.36. Ragan placed fifth in the event.
In the 1600-meter run, Franks finished third with Ragan in fourth. Franks also took the silver medal in the 3200-meter run, with Madelyn McKenzie finishing third for the bronze medal.
Overall the girls team placed fourth in the championship, marking the best finish by a CA girls team since a third place finish in 2011.
“This is a very young Girls team,” distance coach Duane Powell said. “Triple Jumper Maddie Claire Sauls, who finished seventh in the championship, is our only senior. Long jump state champion Lizzie Sullivan is only a sophomore, and Natalie Ragan on the 4x400 and 4x800 Relay teams is a junior with the rest of the girls eighth graders.”
The boys 4x400 relay team of Robert Johnson, Carter Rowell, Eli Beard and Caleb King won the silver. In the 4x200 Relay, the team of Johnson, Kris Ginn, Preston Sauls and Riley Bond placed fifth.
Freshman Casey Haddox finished the 3200-meter run with a blazing kick to win bronze. His personal record time of 11:19.55 was only 28-hundredths of a second behind the second place finisher.
“Coach Hall and I are very proud of all these kids. Their hard work paid off, and they made Columbia Academy proud,” Powell said.
The field events were held at Canton Academy April 30, and the track events were at Jackson Prep May 1.
