Dunwoody Boys Track Team Wins Region

Increasingly, little surprises Dunwoody boys track coach Brad Hendrickson.

Following his team's first-ever DeKalb County championship a few weeks ago, then last week's Region 6-AAAA title, he's not ruling out a lofty finish at the state meet May 5-7 at Jefferson.

"We might have too few athletes there (to win)," he said, "but our goal is to get in the top five, for sure."

How Dunwoody captured its third region championship in four season has Hendrickson feeling anything is possible at state. In edging out Tucker by just one point, the Wildcats covered both ends of the spectrum, qualifying runners for state in its two longest races, the 3,200- and 1,600-meters, and its two shortest, the 100 and 200, and the 800 in between.

Senior James Dwyer advanced to state by winning the 3,200 in 9:32.75 and the 1,600 in 4:25.61, the longer a personal best by nearly nine seconds. Junior Dazel Claytor reached state with second-place finishes of 10.82 and 21.95 in the 100 and 200, respectively, slimming his 10.92 and 22.18 in those events at county. Senior Kuaniyal Chol qualified second in the 800 in 1:55.26, more than four seconds faster than his county effort.

Dwyer was surprised by his 3,200, though he didn't feel well when it started.

"I was just trying to win, not do anything fantastic," he said. "With two laps left, I started feeling all right. Then with one lap left, I was feeling great.

"It was weird," he added. "I didn't start feeling good until the end of the race."

Claytor liked his 200.

"To come in (qualified) sixth and come in second was pretty good," he said. "I got a great start ahead of everybody and was able to finish it off."

Kyle Sexton and Josh McKay helped the Wildcats win region by finishing third and fourth in the 3,200 and 100, respectively, just behind each event's two state qualifiers. Ted Dixon and Alec Ausley were fourth and seventh in pole vault; Brandon Morales and Connor McKnight sixth and seventh in high jump; and Yannic Francis eighth in triple jump. Connor Weaver was fifth in discus and shot put and Josiah Terrell-Perica fourth in discus.

A sixth-place finish in the 400 relay and fourth-place ending in the 1,600 relay also were critical. Temyrick Mosley, Claytor, Matthew Rather and McKay clocked 43.67 in the shorter relay. Mosley, Rather, Troy Oliver and Chol ran 3:21.66 in the longer one, a personal best by six seconds.

Hendrickson senses his Wildcats can eclipse last year's seventh-place finish at state. The focuses are keeping Dwyer healthy, improving Claytor's starts, and bolstering Chol's endurance with speed work. Specifically, Dwyer likely will taper his weekly training mileage from 50 to 25, and Chol plans to integrate more 250 sprints into his workouts. Meanwhile, Claytor might do more repetitive work in the starting block.

Hendrickson said two weeks between region and state has advantages and disadvantages.

"The advantage is that you have two weeks to recoup and regroup after region," he said. "The disadvantage is having to stay focused during that time."