Marianna Wright breaks Georgia record – earns USA Top Ten time

ALBANY — Monroe sophomore Marianna Wright must have had a good breakfast Friday morning — maybe Wheaties? Friday afternoon she broke the Georgia record in the girl’s 300-meter hurdles with a time of 40.81 seconds to finish three seconds ahead of her nearest competitor in the state preliminary race and qualify as the top seed in Saturday’s finals at Hugh Mills Stadium.

That time earned her a USA Top Ten notation — which means it is one of the ten fastest times in any high school race across the country this year.

She also set a personal best time in the girl’s 200-meter dash at 24.88 seconds. That put her in third place heading into the finals Saturday behind two girls from Sandy Creek High School. Less than a half-second separated the three girls. Her first race Saturday is scheduled for 12:50 as part of the relay team.

Dougherty speedster Austin Davis also had a good day on the track and he tied with the fastest time in the 200-meter dash and had the fifth fastest time in the 100-meter dash. In the 200-meter, Davis finished in a personal best 21.98 seconds and in the 100-meter he finished in 10.93 seconds — less than a second of the leader. His first race is scheduled for 12:30 Saturday.

Other area athletes qualifying for the state finals Saturday were:

Ricoria Winchester, Monroe(3A). finished eighth in girl’s 100-meter hurdles with a personal best time of 16.01;Destiny Love, Westover (4A), finished seventh in the girl’s 100-meter hurdles with a personal best time of 15.33 seconds;Kaitlyn Williams, Monroe (3A), finished fourth in the girl’s 400-meter dash with a personal best time of 58.55. She just missed qualifying in the 200-meter dash finals in ninth place;Tykerie Washing, Monroe (3A) placed second in the boy’s 400-meter dash with a personal best time of 49.47;Jaylan Mclloyd, Westover (4A) finished 8th in the boy’s 400-meter dash with a personal best of 49.22 and earned a “Top 50” in Georgia notation;Sedrick Roundtree, Monroe (3A) finished sixth with a personal best time of 1:59.45;Westover’s 4×100 girl’s relay team finished eighth — but less than two seconds behind the leader — Druid Hills. That team included Taylor Singleton, Wykeria Holmes, Rayven Thurston, and Madison Mitchell.Monroe’s 4×100 boy’s relay team finished fourth. The team included Tykerie Washington, Justin Burns, Johnny Cauley, and Usir Bey.

JoeWhitfield[email protected]