The Gatewood track-and-field teams continued their 2023 seasons last Wednesday when they hosted their third meet in as many weeks, as Trinity Christian of Dublin, Piedmont Academy, Augusta Prep, George Walton, Fullington Academy, Briarwood, Twiggs Academy, and John Hancock Academy visited the Gators’ Eatonton campus.
At the end of the day, the combined scores placed the Gators boys’ team second with 130 points, behind Trinity Christian at 178, with Augusta Prep (83), Piedmont (81) and Briarwood (72) completing the top five.
The girls’ team, meanwhile, placed third with 99 points, following George Walton’s 199.5 and 131 for Trinity Christian in the runner-up spot. Briarwood (71.5) and Fullington (37.5) filled out the top five.
In the girls’ 100-meter dash, Gatewood’s Presley Moss finished fourth with a time of 13.70, while Madison Hevesy got second place with a time of 28.06 in the girls’ 200-meter dash, followed closely by Moss at 28.31 in third.
Moss again placed fourth in the girls’ 400-meter dash, but Anna Williamson finished first in the girls’ 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.75, then dropped to a runner-up result in the girls’ 300-meter hurdles.
In the girls’ 4x100 meter relay, Gatewood’s Hevesy, P. Moss, Natalie Sills and Williamson came in third place with a time of 53.63, the same position the Gators took in the girls’ 4x400 relay with London Darden, Hevesy, P. Moss and Williamson on the track.
In the girls’ long jump, Lexi Moss leaped 14-02.25 to come in fourth, and in the pole vault, she cleared 6-06 to place fifth. In the girls’ triple jump, Hevesy jumped 33-00.50 to come in second.
Ellie McMillan threw a 76-09.00 to come in sixth for the Gators in girls’ discus and Kindall Ward threw the shot 26-06.75 to come in eighth.
Gatewood’s Evan Bennett led the way with a 1st-place finish of 52.83 in the boys’ 400-meter dash with teammate Jackson Lundy coming in 5th. In the boys’ 200, Jackson Hewatt finished 4th, the same position Luke McNeil secured for the Gators in the boys’ 800-meter run, while Cale Ferguson placed 3rd in the 1600-meter.
In the boys’ 300-meter hurdles, Blake Callaway finished with a time of 43.20 to win the event and placed 2nd in the 110-meter hurdles ahead of Gatewood teammate Jayden Daniel in 6th.
In the relay events, the Gators’ crew of Hewatt, Daniel, Lundy and Bennett put together a 3:47 effort to win the 4X400 final, as did the quartet of Luke McNeill, Lake Ferman, John Vande Planque and Ferguson with a 10:20 time in the 4X800, while Hewatt, Daniel, Callaway and Bennett combined for a time of 45.20 and a 3rd-place result in the boys 4x100.
In the boys’ high jump, Callaway finished fourth for the Gators by clearing 5-08, while Dakota Davis repeated his pole vault win of a week ago by going a full foot higher at 9-06, with teammate Noah Bennett third at 9-0.
In the boys’ triple jump, Gatewood’s JT Gregory covered 34-01 feet to come in fourth, while Ames Johnson went 17-4 for an 8th-place result in the long jump.
Evan Bennett threw a 117-04.00 to come in second place in the discus, then threw a 42-10.75 to win first place in the boys’ shot put for Gatewood.
The Gators hosted their fourth-straight weekly meet to start the track season this Wednesday (after press time), then will go on the road before hosting again on April 12, beginning at 3:30 p.m., in Eatonton.