Smith wins state title; local athletes place at state track and field meets

Track and field state championships were decided this weekend at three sites across Georgia and Bartow County had athletes participating at each location.

Cass High School’s Stephen Smith (photo from an earlier meet) highlighted all results with a state championship in the Class 5A pole vault in Carrollton. Smith cleared 14 feet on his first attempt to edge Carrollton’s Joe Street who also cleared 14 feet, but on his second attempt.

Karson Norris of Woodland and Josie Summerville of Adairsville each finished as a state runner-up in their respective events. Norris cleared 10 feet in the Class 5A pole vault and Summerville’s shot put of 37 feet and one inch was second in Class 3A in Albany.

Cartersville’s London Shaw and Cass High’s Tavares Varnum were bronze medalists. Shaw, who also earned team points in the discus throw, was third in the Class 3A shot put in Rome. Varnum finished third in the Class 5A high jump by clearing 6 feet, four inches.

The Adairsville girls led three local teams with top-15 finishes. The Lady Tigers — on points earned by Josie Summerville and Nakiyah Washington tied for ninth at the Class 3A meet in Albany. Woodland’s girls were 11th at the Class 5A state championships where the Cass boys earned a 15th place finish. Both the Lady Cats and Colonels were in Carrollton.

The Cartersville girls and boys teams placed 26th and 27th, respectively, at the Class 4A state meet at Berry College in Rome. The Cass girls team was 31st and the Woodland boys were 33rd at the Class 5A meet in Carrollton, while the Adairsville boys team did not earn any team points.

Individual results and marks from state finals and preliminaries:

Adairsville Girls

2nd - Shot Put - Josie Summerville (37-01)

5th - Discus Throw - Nakiyah Washington (110-01)

6th - Shot Put - Nakiyah Washington (34-05.25)

Adairsville Boys

12th - 100M - Daylon Bailey (11.31)

14th - 4x100M Relay - Daylon Bailey, Travon Branch, Ethan Belcher, Derrick Simmons (45.51)

Cartersville Girls

3rd - Shot Put - London Shaw (38-7)

8th - Discus Throw - London Shaw (108-07)

16th - 800M - Kayla Carpenter (2:46.52)