By finishing top-four in their events at the Area 3-Private track and field meet Wednesday at Greater Atlanta Christian School in Norcross, 31 Darlington Tigers qualified for the Classes 1A Division I-3A Private Section B meet, making them each one result away from a state meet appearance.
The 31 different Darlington students qualified in 29 different events, with 14 athletes combining to win seven events.
Seniors Emma Hunt and Will Land, junior Jayce 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 38-foot, 5 1/2-inch throw that bested second place by over an inch. Parsa won the boys 1,600 with a time of 4:38.43, besting senior teammate Brock Ferguson by 0.28 seconds.
Four Darlington athletes qualified for sectionals in four events, the most allowed: Hunt (girls 400, 4x100, 4x200, 4x400), Ledbetter (girls 400, 4x100, 4x200, 4x400), Shropshire (girls 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, 4x100, 4x400) and Temple (boys 100 dash, 200 dash, 4x100, 4x200).
Full list of local qualifiers for sectionals from the Area 3-Private meet:
Boys 100-meter dash
Brooke Temple, Darlington sophomore - 11.00
Girls 100-meter dash
Callie Dempsey, Darlington sophomore - 12.37
Boys 200-meter dash
Brooke Temple, Darlington sophomore - 22.1
Girls 200-meter dash
Callie Dempsey, Darlington sophomore - 26.51
Girls 400-meter dash
Molly Ledbetter, Darlington sophomore - 1:01.44
Emma Hunt, Darlington senior - 1:03.02
Boys 800-meter run
Hayes Parsa, Darlington junior - 2:02.56
Boys 1,600-meter run
Hayes Parsa, Darlington junior - 4:38.43
Brock Ferguson, Darlington senior - 4:38.71
Girls 1,600-meter run
Cora Fannin, Darlington sophomore - 5:42.71
Boys 3,200-meter run
Brock Ferguson, Darlington senior - 10:18.26
Girls 3,200-meter run
Cora Fannin, Darlington sophomore - 12:37.74
Girls 100-meter hurdles
Evie Shropshire, Darlington sophomore - 16.34
Girls 300-meter hurdles
Evie Shropshire, Darlington sophomore - 49.84
Boys 4x100-meter relay
Darlington - Jace Hatcher, Brooke Temple, Jayce Donaldson, Sammy Kunczewski - 42.8
Girls 4x100-meter relay
Darlington - Molly Ledbetter, Emma Hunt, Olivia Wheat, Evie Shropshire - 51.09
Boys 4x200-meter relay
Darlington - Will Land, Sammy Kunczewski, Jayce Donaldson, Brooke Temple - 1:29.13
Girls 4x200-meter relay
Darlington - Molly Ledbetter, Emma Hunt, Ivey Dunn, Callie Dempsey - 1:46.60
Boys 4x400-meter relay
Darlington - Mac Walker, Zaiden Simpson, Will Land, Jayde Donaldson - 3:31.09
Girls 4x400-meter relay
Darlington - Evie Shropshire, Emma Hunt, Savannah Palmer, Molly Ledbetter - 4:12.93
Boys 4x800-meter relay
Darlington - Zach Kimani, Lee Donahue, Toby Burns, Atlas Kosedag - 9:23.69
Girls 4x800-meter relay
Darlington - Lauren-Clay Musgrave, Cora Fannin, Elli Martin, Madisyn Joseph - 10:50.74
Boys discus
Bo Brooks, Darlington senior - 125'6"
Boys high jump
Trustin Mercer, Darlington senior - 5'10"
Boys long jump
Will Land, Darlington senior - 20'7"
Boys pole vault
Noah Duggan, Darlington senior - 13'0"
Girls pole vault
Ivey Dunn, Darlington freshman - 7'6"
Boys shot put
Bo Brooks, Darlington senior - 35'5.5"
Sam Twente, Darlington senior - 38'3"
Boys triple jump
Levi Duggan, Darlington freshman - 42'0.5"
Matthew Sanker, Darlington sophomore - 41'2"
Girls triple jump
Nora Knaak, Darlington sophomore - 34'2"
This article was originally published in the Rome News-Tribune on April 24, 2025.
