By Alicia Couch Payne
Legacy is what comes to mind when I think of the accomplishments of a super talented, motivated, and hard-working group of young ladies that comprises the Buford girls’ track and field team. Long after these ladies leave the halls of Buford High School, their accomplishments will live on. They will leave behind a legacy unmatched in the school’s history.
With two state titles under their belts, they are hungry for a three-peat. On their quest for that title, they competed at the Region 8-AAAAA Track and Field Championships that was held on April 17, 2019, at Buford High School. The girls took home their third straight region title with a total of 247 points. The girls flat out dominated this meet. Loganville came in a distant second place with a total of 123 points.
In the first event of the meet was the girls’ high jump with Buford’s Britiney Johnson and Kyra Buffen finishing second and third. Caroline and Callie Snell tied for first place in the pole vault giving Buford girls their first win of the day. Avian Rossum landed on the podium in third place in the long jump for the Lady Wolves. In the girls’ triple jump, Buford landed at third with a solid performance by Debra Ogundimu. Ebony Grant keeps Buford on the podium in the girls’ discus throw with a third-place finish. In the last field event of the day, shot put, Buford girls landed in first and second place with excellent throws from Imani Cloud and Samantha Arano.
Up next were the track events and once again, the Lady Wolves made a statement by placing in the top three in every race. Jordan Sullivan and Caroline Montini finished second and third in the 3200M race for Buford. The girls placed first and second in the 4 x 100 meter relay. Jordan Sullivan placed second in the 1600M while teammate Caroline Montini finished fourth.
In the girls 400M dash, Buford had another one-two finish. With a time of 55.09, Kimberly Harris took home first place edging out Trinity Price who had a time of 56.17. Phoenix Armstead and Trinity Rossum earned a second and third place finish in the 100M dash. In the 100M hurdles, Buford’s Debra Ogundimu came in first with a time of 15.41 just edging out teammate Avian Rossum. The Lady Wolves finished one-two in the 800M run by Britiney Johnson and McKenzie Smith. With a time of 24.11, Kimberly Harris beat Trinity Price to give Buford the top two spots in the 200M dash. In the 300M hurdles, Debra Ogundimu got her second win of the day while Shamya Young finished second. The Lady Wolves earned the top two spots in the 4 x 400 meter relay.
The Buford girls’ track and field team had nine first-place finishes at the Region Championships. They move on to the sectional meet on May 4 at Union Grove High School.
