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Junior competes at state
Davenport pic
Rush Davenport finished fifth in his heat with a time of 51.858 in the Georgia Olympics held in Jefferson last Friday afternoon. Rush’s time was not enough to qualify for the finals. - photo by Pam Jacobs Dawson Community News

Rush Davenport participated in the Georgia Olympics on May 14 at Bryan-Keen Memorial Stadium in Jefferson. Davenport was the only athlete to qualify for the state meet from Head Coach Arron Haynes’ boys track team.

  

Davenport, a junior, qualified to run in the 400-meter sprint at last week’s Region 8-AA meet in Jefferson. He finished in second place to qualify for the state meet.

  

“I was very excited,” said Davenport on Wednesday. “I really enjoyed this track season. Especially breaking the school records in the 200 and 400 meters. Coach Haynes has been a great help this year.”

  

On Friday, Davenport competed in the first heat of the 400-meter. Despite breaking the school record again, with a time of 51.858, he finished fifth in his heat and didn’t have a fast enough time to qualify for the finals on Saturday.

  

“Rush did a great job, dropping his time by almost half a second. I asked him to run a 51 and chance for a shot at the finals and he did. We just couldn’t help what other people did,” Haynes said.

  

Winning the 400-meter final was Marcus Jackson of Pepperell High School in Rome with a time of 48.493.

  

“I am really proud of him, especially when you factor in that this state run was just the fourth time he had ran the 400-meter dash competitively all season and he set yet another school record,” Haynes said.

  

Jefferson won the team title, with only four athletes entered, with a team score of 41. Westminster finished second with 35 points.”We have had a wonderful season on both the boys and girls side, with many records falling.

  

“We have a great group leaving that will be dearly missed, but they are leaving a great foundation behind with strong underclassmen,” Haynes said.