By finishing top-eight in their events at the Area 3 Private track and field meet Wednesday at Greater Atlanta Christian School in Norcross, 35 Darlington Tigers qualified for the Class 1A Division I-3A Private Section B meet, making them each one result away from a state meet appearance.
The 35 athletes qualified in 33 events, with 14 athletes combining to win seven events.
Seniors Emma Hunt and Will Land, junior Jayde Donaldson and sophomore Molly Ledbetter and Evie Shropshire each won two events.
Hunt and Ledbetter each were part of Darlington’s first-place girls 4x200- and 4x400-meter relays. They were joined in the 4x400 by Shropshire, who also won the 300-meter hurdles.
Also on the girls 4x200 was freshman Ivey Dunn and sophomore Callie Dempsey. Also on the girls 4x400 was junior Savannah Palmer.
Donaldson and Land were part of Darlington’s first-place boys 4x200 and 4x400. They were joined in the 4x200 by senior Sammy Kunczewski and sophomore Brooke Temple. Also on the 4x400 were junior Mac Walker and freshman Zaiden Simpson.
Senior Bo Brooks and junior Hayes Parsa were Darlington’s other two event winners at the area meet. Brooks won the boys shot put with a throw of 38 feet, 5½ inches that bested second place by more than an inch. Parsa won the boys 1,600 with a time of 4 minutes, 38.43 seconds, besting senior teammate Brock Ferguson by 0.28 seconds.
Seven Darlington athletes qualified for sectionals in four events, the most allowed: Dempsey (girls 100 dash, 200 dash, long jump, 4x200), Donaldson (boys 400, 4x100, 4x200, 4x400), Hunt (girls 400, 4x100, 4x200, 4x400), Ledbetter (girls 400, 4x100, 4x200, 4x400), Shropshire (girls 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, 4x100, 4x400), Temple (boys 100 dash, 200 dash, 4x100, 4x200) and senior Olivia Wheat (girls 100 dash, 200 dash, pole vault, 4x100).
Full list of local qualifiers for sectionals from the Area 3 Private meet:
Boys 100-meter dash
Brooke Temple, 11.00
Sammy Kunczewski, 11.25
Girls 100-meter dash
Callie Dempsey, 12.37
Olivia Wheat, 13.20
Boys 200-meter dash
Brooke Temple, 22.1
Girls 200-meter dash
Callie Dempsey, 26.51
Olivia Wheat, 28.17
Girls 400-meter dash
Molly Ledbetter, 1:01.44
Emma Hunt, 1:03.02
Emi Grace Wood, 1:06.12
Boys 400-meter dash
Mac Walker, 52.22
Jayce Donaldson, 52.69
Boys 800-meter run
Hayes Parsa, 2:02.56
Brock Ferguson, 2:05.31
Zach Kimani, 2:05.93
Girls 800-meter run
Savannah Palmer, 2:33.64
Boys 1,600-meter run
Hayes Parsa, 4:38.43
Brock Ferguson, 4:38.71
Zach Kimani, 4:41.05
Girls 1,600-meter run
Cora Fannin, 5:42.71
Savannah Palmer, 5:45.52
Boys 3,200-meter run
Brock Ferguson, 10:18.26
Hayes Parsa, 10:19.22
Lee Donahue, 10:20.52
Girls 3,200-meter run
Cora Fannin, 12:37.74
Boys 110-meter hurdles
Josiah Powers, 19.89
Girls 100-meter hurdles
Evie Shropshire, 16.34
Betty Phillips, 18.68
Girls 300-meter hurdles
Evie Shropshire, 49.84
Betty Phillips, 55.79
Boys 4x100-meter relay
Jace Hatcher, Brooke Temple, Jayce Donaldson, Sammy Kunczewski, 42.80
Girls 4x100-meter relay
Molly Ledbetter, Emma Hunt, Olivia Wheat, Evie Shropshire, 51.09
Boys 4x200-meter relay
Will Land, Sammy Kunczewski, Jayce Donaldson, Brooke Temple, 1:29.13
Girls 4x200-meter relay
Molly Ledbetter, Emma Hunt, Ivey Dunn, Callie Dempsey, 1:46.60
Boys 4x400-meter relay
Mac Walker, Zaiden Simpson, Will Land, Jayde Donaldson, 3:31.09
Girls 4x400-meter relay
Evie Shropshire, Emma Hunt, Savannah Palmer, Molly Ledbetter, 4:12.93
Boys 4x800-meter relay
Zach Kimani, Lee Donahue, Toby Burns, Atlas Kosedag, 9:23.69
Girls 4x800-meter relay
Lauren-Clay Musgrave, Cora Fannin, Elli Martin, Madisyn Joseph, 10:50.74
Boys discus
Bo Brooks, 125-6
Girls discus
Mia Curlee, 70-8
Boys high jump
Trustin Mercer, 5-10
Boys long jump
Will Land, 20-7
Trustin Mercer, 19-1.5
Girls long jump
Callie Dempsey, 16-8.5
Boys pole vault
Noah Duggan, 13-0
Girls pole vault
Ivey Dunn, 7-6
Olivia Wheat, 7-0
Boys shot put
Bo Brooks, 35-5.5
Sam Twente, 38-3
Boys triple jump
Levi Duggan, 42-0.5
Matthew Sanker, 41-2
Girls triple jump
Nora Knaak, 34-2
This article was originally published in the Rome News-Tribune on April 24, 2025.
