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 Welcome |
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| 200 Final Stephenson Invitational
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Grady Track & Field
Welcome to the official web site for the boys track & field team at Henry Grady High School in Atlanta, Georgia.
This is a site for the team's runners, parents and fans to follow Grady's track team.
You can find news about the team, including, school records and previous seasons' performances, under the News/Team History button to the left. Links to the state's track & field site, the dyestat national track site and videos of great performances, statistics, training tips and injury prevention under the Videos, Stats, and Training Tips link.
Grady has an additional website on the gatfxc.com state track website. That address is www.milesplit.com/teams/GA/Grady/. On this site, any performances meeting the state elite performance guidelines will be followed and tracked by athlete and by relay teams.
2008 Grady Boys Track Schedule-Remaining
May 8-10 State Track Meet Jefferson 9am, 12pm, 12pm
Postseason Unattached Meets
May 24 @ Ga Tech Atlanta Prep Classic
June 19 @ NC A&T Nike Outdoor Nationals
Grady Boys Track Team State finishes
2006-5th Place AA
2005-AA State Runner-up
2004-4th Place AA
2003-3rd Place AA
2002-6th Place AA
2001-3rd Place AA
2000-3rd Place AA
1999-6th Place AA
Grady Girls Track Team State finishes
2006-5th Place AA
1988-AA State Champions
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Sunday, May 11
4x100 Finishes 4th in State Finals
Seniors Joshua Tolbert, Demarcus Watts and Kari Kemp finished their Grady careers, with the help of junior Aaron Killingsworth, with a 4th place finish in the 4x100 relay. The event was the only in which Grady scored at the state meet to finish 22nd in the state. The team's season best time of 42.19 is the third fastest in school history. Grady's fastest times of 41.86 and 41.98 were established at the 2007 meet by Zac Koen, Watts, Dexter Barnett and Kemp. Watts also finished 8th in the 100 meters.
400 METER RELAY
| Place | Name | School | Time | Points |
| 1 |
Jonathon Ross |
Sandy Creek #1 (6-AAA) |
41.500 |
10 |
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Rhyan Atrice |
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Andrew Roberts |
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Christian Taylor |
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Frank Brown-Bush |
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Blair Taylor |
| 2 |
John Brown |
Hardaway (2-AAA) |
42.090 |
8 |
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Terodrick Grier |
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Eric Plump |
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Stephon Sudduth |
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Shelby Gregg |
| 3 |
Al Thomas |
Crisp County (1-AAA) |
42.120 |
6 |
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Darius Gunn |
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Jarques Dennard |
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Quentavious Nance |
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Brandon Towns |
| 4 |
Joshua Tolbert |
Grady (5-AAA) |
42.190 |
4 |
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Demarcus Watts |
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Aaron Killingsworth |
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Kari Kemp |
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Marquelle Newton |
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Keenan Gibson |
| 5 |
Cameron McDuffie |
Westover (1-AAA) |
42.340 |
2 |
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Greg Green |
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Kenji Breedlove |
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Rashad Greene |
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Brandon Benton |
| 6 |
Emanuel Forbes |
Henry County (4-AAA) |
43.390 |
1 |
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Robert Terrell |
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Shawn Nunnally |
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Jamal Patterson |
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Alakan Thomas |
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Jontrell Reese |
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| Josh & Kari chat before the 4x400 at state
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Tuesday, April 29
Grady Qualifies For State Meet In 5 Events
Coming from last place at the start of the day, the Grey Knights rode impressive performances in the Region 5AAA track finals to finish 4th overall and qualify for the state meet in five events.
The team's efforts were led by senior Demarcus Watts' gutty performances on a sore hamstring to redeem himself from a disappointing meet a year ago, to finish 2nd in both the 100 and 200 in season best times of 10.92 and 21.88.
Senior captain Joshua Tolbert also qualified individually in the 110 hurdles in a new school record of 15.43 as he finished second. Like Watts, Tolbert has also been hampered by injuries to his hamstring this season.
``This has to be one of the most rewarding seasons we've had at Grady,'' said Coach Delbert Ellerton. ``This team has overcome a great deal of adversity and really stepped up when it counted most.''
Perhaps the crowning moment of the meet was the final event, the 4x400 relay. After finishing the 200 and writhing in pain at the finish line, Watts was questionable for the relay, which needed him to have any chance of getting to the state meet. Forty-five minutes later, Watts, Tolbert, Kari Kemp and Aaron Killingsworth were determined to end the meet on a high note.
Coming out of the blocks as the lead-off leg, Watts was in obvious pain as he struggled to make the team's first lap around the oval before handing off to Kemp with the team in 5th place. Kemp, who earlier in the meet, had finished 3rd in the 400 in 49.51, moved the team slighty within striking distance on his leg before Tolbert and Killingsworth went to work.
Tolbert, ailing from soreness in his hip following a 4th place finish in the 300 hurdles, pulled out one last couragous effort at the end of his leg as he followed Riverwood's Amaechi Morton, the 47-second quarter miler, who pulled the Raiders into second place to set them up for an apparent trip to the state meet.
Killingsworth, taking the baton, in 3rd place, but within striking distance of the Riverwood anchor, ran a tactical race, gradually making up ground from the first curve and down the backstretch before positioning himself to make one last torrid kick out of the final curve and into the homestretch.
Midway through the curve, Killingsworth made it apparent to everyone in the crowd that he would dig down deep and find whatever was neccessary to deliver his team to the state meet as he caught and passed the Riverwood runner only steps from the finish line as the crowd went into a frenzy.
Killingsworth's effort was so surprising because he's not a full-time track runner this year, splitting his time between baseball and track, and he's only practiced occassionally with the team. Also, he was called into emergency duty as a replacement leg just as the region meet approached last week.
``Aaron really carried that team at the end,'' said Coach Ellerton. ``He stepped up when we needed him the most. I'm really proud of him. I'm proud of all of them. They really came together at the end as a team. This is a very special team.''
The foursome of Tolbert, Watts, Killingsworth and Kemp also overcame a bad final exchange to finish second and make the state meet in the 4x100 relay. Last year, the 4x100 was state runner-up.
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Elliott, Mike, Aaron and Kari pass time during long state meet
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Saturday, April 19
Kemp Breaks School Record, Finishes 3rd at Marietta Invitational
Grady senior Kari Kemp, in only his 3rd open 400 race of the year, broke the 6-year old 400 meter school record previously held by 2002 Class AA state champion Robert Owens at the Marietta Invitational on April 19.
With his time of 49.43, Kemp shaved 3 hundredths of a second off of Owens' old mark of 49.46, which was set in the 2002 Region 5AA finals, as Owens edged Crim's William Arnold. Kemp, in his heat, defeated Southwest Dekalb's Austin Hollimon, who a year ago ran a pr of 47.82 at the Marietta meet in a second place finish to Sandy Creek's Michael Dehaven, now at Auburn University.
The team runs at the Region 5AAA meet on Saturday April 26 and Monday, April 28 at Westminster. The meet on Saturday starts at 9 am. The finals on the 28th start at 5 pm.
Sunday, April 13
2nd Place Finish at Jefferson Relays
With only one meet remaining before the all-important region meet, Grady scored 51 points to finish second at the Jefferson Relays. After a slow start, the team was sparked by a second place finish in 42.81 in the 4x100 (Joshua Tolbert, Demarcus Watts, Marcus Caffey and Kari Kemp). That was followed by wins in the 4x200 (Jarvis Caffey, Kemp, Watts and Marcus Caffey) in 1:29.71 and the 4x400 (Kemp, Caffey, Caffey and Aaron Killingsworth) in 3:27. The team's efforts were also helped by second and third place finishes in the 300 hurdles by Tolbert and Kemp and a sixth place finish by Tolbert in the 110 hurdles. Also, Demarcus Watts and Antoine Graham finished 4th in their events, the 100 meters and the long jump.
The team Saturday travels to Marietta High School for the Marietta Invitational in the final tune-up for the region meet.
The region meet is Saturday April 26 and Monday April 28 at Westminster.
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| JV 4x100
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Sunday, March 30
4x200 Makes Rankings
Grady's 4x200 relay team cracked the state elite rankings with a 3rd place finish and a time of 1:31.9 at the Panther Relays. The team of Elliott Erickson, Marcus Caffey, Kari Kemp and Jarvis Caffey finished behind Westlake and Mason of Ohio. The 4x100 relay team finished 3rd as well in 43.22. Antoine Graham finished 5th in the triple jump and Kari Kemp finished 6th in the 300 hurdles in 41.77. The next meet is the Atlanta Track Classic at Lakewood from Tuesday through Thursday.
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| 4x100 Stephenson
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Saturday, March 15
4x100 Finishes 2nd at Stephenson
In a weekend that saw Atlanta battered by strong winds, rain and lightening and most of the state's elite athletes away at either Nike Indoor or the National Scholastic, Grady's 4x100 team garnered a 2nd place finish at the Stephenson Invitational.
After falling slightly behind at the start of the race, Demarcus Watts flew down the backstretch pulling the team into solid striking distance to set up curveman Aaron Killingsworth, who firmly solidified the team's second-place position as he circled to anchor Kari Kemp, who held off the late surge of Hardaway's Eric Plump. Stephenson won the event in 42.5 while Grady completed the race in 43.4. Marquelle Newton ran the leadoff leg with Watts second, Killingsworth third and Kemp at anchor.
Other highlights include Watts finishing 4th in the 100 and John Moore throwing nearly 40 feet in his first competition in the shot put. Kemp ran a 22.3 hand-time in the 200. However, the race's official results were incorrect.
In the jv portion of the meet, Elliott Erickson placed second in the 200 at 23.50 and seventh in the 100 at 11.97. The jv 4x100 team finished 5th.
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| Elliott Awaits Baton at Stephenson
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Wednesday, March 12
Team Continues Improvement in 2nd Meet
Grady's boys track team continued putting the pieces of the puzzle together for the all important region and state meets, taking a few steps back to work on areas of weakness in the 2nd meet of the season vs Douglass and Carver in anticipation of next week's early season match-up with last year's Class AAA state champion Sandy Creek and a rematch with Redan.
The 4x100 relay of Marquelle Newton, Demarcus Watts, Elliott Erickson and Kari Kemp finished third in 43.50. The team may be back to full strength next week as captain Joshua Tolbert is expected to return from an injury.
Kari Kemp, using the meet primarily for early season conditioning, finished 4th in the 800 in 2:16. Kemp was second in the 300 hurdles in 41.28 after getting off to a strong start and challenging for the lead with Douglass' Marchello Sinkfield over the first half of the race.
Demarcus Watts, who got a late start, coming to the team a month into practice, continued his return to form, taking the 100 in 10.70.
In the junior varsity races, Erickson continued to stand out, despite just limited practice time with the team as he's currently splitting his time between track and ultimate frisbee. He finished second in 100 in 11.6 and won the 200 in 23.25.
The 4x400 of Kemp, Watts, Erickson and Killingsworth finished 4th in 3:38.
Antoine Graham won the triple jump with a leap of 41'9.
Tuesday, March 4
Bright Spots in 1st Meet of 2008
Grady kicked off the 2008 track season with competitive efforts in several events as the team took on Redan, Decatur and Therrell.
Antoine Graham, who last spring finished third in the region triple jump finals, opened his senior season with a second-place finish in the long jump behind former Grady jumper Andrerius Thomas, now at Redan. Graham jumped 22 feet even on his second jump of the day.
Kari Kemp won the 400 meters in 50.8 seconds as well as the 300 hurdles in 41.2 seconds in a heat composed of himself and teammate Joshua Tolbert, who led the two-man competition before stumbling coming off the second to last hurdle.
The 4x100 varsity relay of Tolbert, Demarcus Watts, Aaron Killingsworth and Kemp finished 2nd to Redan in 43.03 seconds to open the season.
Watts finished third in the 100 in 11.01.
The 4x400 team of Kemp, Tolbert, Elliott Erickson and Kelis Solomon finished the meet with a victory.
In the junior varsity races, the 4x100 team of Elliott Erickson, Keenan Gipson, Patrick Pinson and Kelis Solomon ran away from the competition, taking the race in 45.50.
In the open events, Erickson took the 100 meters in 11.6 and Solomon finished second in the 400 meters in 55.4 seconds.
Jonathan Patterson finished with a leap of 18 feet, 1 inch in the jv long jump.
Both the boys and girls teams compete Saturday, Mar. 8 at the Panther Relays at Starr's Mill High School in Fayetteville.
Sunday, August 12
Atlanta Track Club Foundation Supports Team With $3,500 Grant
The Grady boys track team would like to extend a special thanks to the Atlanta Track Club Foundation for its $3,500 grant in support of the team for the 2008 upcoming track season. The money will be used to purchase a school set of uniforms and warm-ups for the team.
The team would also like to extend thanks to Trader Joe's for its interest in assisting the team with water and energy bars for the upcoming season as well.
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