GMC Prep earns hardware at region track
Published 5:01 pm Wednesday, April 23, 2025
GMC Prep earned one team championship, one team runner-up and qualified a host of student-athletes for sectionals at the Region 5-A Div. 2 track and field championship held at Hancock Central High School Thursday.
The GMC girls came away as region champs by outscoring Johnson County 192.5-172.5. On the boys side, host Hancock was the winner 157-142 over runner-up GMC, who edged third-place Johnson County by a point and fourth-place Wilkinson County by two.
GMC’s girls won the region mostly due to their success in the running events, especially when it came to distance races. Both the one- and two-mile fields were made up solely of Lady Dogs. Freshman Helen Anne Davenport won the 1600 at 6:50 and was second in the 3200 behind sophomore Sofia Wood who posted a time of 15:56 in that event. Seniors Lily Ryan (1:02) and Meadow Roberts (1:05) went 1-2 in the 400-meter dash. Ryan also won the 800 at 2:53 followed fairly closely by junior teammate Promise Gasaway at 2:56. In the relays, the GMC girls crossed the finish line first by comfortable margins in both the 4×800 and 4×400. Freshman Phoebe Laster won the girls high jump to earn the team’s only first-place medal in a field event.
Trending
Other high finishers for the Lady Dogs included: sophomore Allie Deason, runner-up in the discus; freshman Sadie Schell, runner-up in the triple jump; freshman Maddie Ryan, runner-up in the 300-meter hurdles; and Meadow Roberts, runner-up in the 200-meter.
For the boys, GMC Prep couldn’t quite catch up to Hancock Central, who was led by the fastest man in the region. Senior Kyan Hill won both the 100-meter (11.14 seconds) and the 200-meter (22.92) in addition to placing first in the triple jump (41 feet, 3 inches) and second in the long jump. GMC unsurprisingly had the distance king in Julian Council, a multi-time individual cross country state champion throughout his high school career. Council fended off Wilco’s Rashaun Shinhoster to win both the one-mile (5:19 to Shinhoster’s 5:22) and 800-meter (2:12 to 2:20). Council’s 12:01 two-mile winning time also bested teammate Grady Meier by four seconds.
Other high finishers for the GMC boys included: sophomore Matt McDade, runner-up in the discus and shot put; junior Miles Alexander, runner-up in the 400-meter; and the 4×800 relay team, who also took runner-up.
No individual high point winners were crowned at region.
The top four finishers in each event will go on to represent their schools at sectionals May 3 at Warren County. From there, the top eight advance to the GHSA Class A Division 2 track and field state championships being held at Albany’s Hugh Mills Stadium May 9-10.
GMC Prep track is head coached by Nikki Grimes. She’s assisted by Shawn Dennis and community coach/former John Milledge track and cross country great, Emery Ryan.
