Jadon Thomason wins 2 events at state meet
Calhoun has a two-time 5A state champion in track and field.
Senior hurdler Jadon Thomason capped off an amazing two-year run with the Yellow Jackets on Saturday at Grisham Stadium, winning both hurdles races in the GHSA 5A state meet at Carrollton High School.
Thomason won the 110-meter hurdles with an impressive 13.98 and he was over a half-second ahead of the second-place time of 14.51 by Kujuan Davis of Charles Drew High School. While Thomason had a tiny of breathing room at the finish line, the race for second through fifth place was just over a tenth of a second with Davis’s time between the fifth-place effort of 14.64. The top seven in the race all went under the 15-second mark.
Thomason, showing his domination in the hurdles, also won the 110m preliminaries, but it was a much closer race. He won the first race in exactly 14 seconds flat with Bryce Wilson of MLK High School second at 14.28. The prelims also saw the top eight hurdlers that qualified for Saturday’s finals run under 15 seconds.
Thomason won the 5A 300-meter hurdles state championship with a 37.25 and was over a half-second faster than Billy Johnson of HV High School, who was second with a 37.95. That pair had the only times under 38 seconds.
The next three times were between 38 and 39 seconds.
The Calhoun senior began his quest for two individual state championships by winning the 300-meter hurdles with a 38.09 and Johnson was second with a 38.26. And Johnson was pushed at the end with a runner from Midtown third at 38.46.
Sophomore Hunter White was tenth overall in the 300-meter hurdles for Calhoun, running a fast 39.86 or just over two seconds off the winning time.
The Yellow Jackets finished with three other top 10 showings in a matchup against the best in the state.
Senior Christian Smith completed a brilliant career at Calhoun by placing sixth in the discus with a best throw of 151 feet. Smith actually finished in a tie for distance with Eastside senior Jacorey Jackson, who also went exactly 151 feet, but Smith reached that distance first to put him sixth and Jackson seventh.
The discus field was a competitive one with just over 10 feet between Smith and the winning throw of 161-07. But while
there was a tussle between sixth and seventh, there was also a fight for first with both John Pacely of Tucker and Cameron Moore of Maynard H. Jackson both letting one fly 161 feet, seven inches. In the end, Pacely was declared the winner with Moore coming in second and they were the only throwers to go beyond 160 feet. Sophomore Alec Upshaw also competed for the Yellow Jackets and he came in 11th overall in his first appearance at state, going 134 feet exactly.
Calhoun sophomore Mariah Anthony gave the Lady Yellow Jackets their highest finish with an eighth place in the long jump with a distance of 17-02.25, but she was close to a much higher finish with just a half-inch longer at 17-02.75 coming
in seventh.
Anthony was also just three feet away from the second place jump of 20-02 by Mary Rozier of Eagles Landing. Greater Atlanta Christian (GAC) senior Ava Kitchings was the state champ with a 20-06.
Besides being separated from seventh by a half-inch, Anthony was also just an inch behind the third-place distance of 17-03.75 and a 17-03 was the fourth-place effort.
Senior Christian Bell was ninth in the state in the shot put with a 46-04 and he was involved in a real scramble for that spot with tenth place from Loganville senior Jake Taylor, who was tenth overall with a 46-03.5.
Lithia Springs senior Alex Henry was the 5A shot put state champ with a distance of 60 feet, 1.5 inches and he was nearly eight feet ahead of the second-place 52-03 as five shot putters went beyond 51 feet.