Lady Spartans, Wolfpack ready for Track Championships

The boys finished up the Georgia Olympics last weekend, now every classification in the GHSA will come together for the Girls Track and Field State Championships. The three-day event began today at Hugh Mills Stadium in Albany.

Following a seventh-place finish by the Campbell boys last weekend, the Lady Spartans are seeking a top-five finish in Albany.

Coming off their first-ever region championship last month, the Lady Spartans are not 100-percent healthy according to track coach Mike McCloud, who backed off making any predictions.

Still, Campbell should be a strong contender in the 400- and 1,600-meter relay events, while Monti Willis will be a factor in both the 100-meter hurdles and the high jump.

The Whitefield Academy boys pulled off a fifth-place finish last weekend and the Lady Wolfpack, with triple-jumper Morgan Landers leading the way, will be seeking a similar performance.

Thursday, the running-event preliminaries are scheduled to take place, as well as field event finals. Friday will see more of the same with the finals in a majority of the running events concluding on Saturday.

The kickoff to the Harris Rainbow era at Campbell came this past Tuesday with the beginning of spring football drills. The first day saw 89 rising sophomore through seniors participating and on Monday they will be joined by in-coming freshmen.

“We’ve got a great bunch of kids and we’re excited,’’ Rainbow said. “They’re learning to do the right thing, to play for each other.’’

Campbell’s spring game is scheduled for May 20 at 7 p.m. The team will scrimmage Saturday at 9 a.m. at the school and parents are invited to attend.

The Georgia High School Association decided that five classifications just weren’t enough this past Tuesday. After rejecting a proposal to revert to four classifications but crown two state champions in each classification, the GHSA executive committee voted 26-24 to switch to a six-classification system for the 2012-13 school year.

The 4/8 plan was voted down, while the and was approved on the strength of its Atlanta-area support. The largest 15 percent of high schools, based on enrollment, will be in AAAAAA, the next 15 percent in AAAAA and the next 16 percent in AAAA.

It’s rather confusing, but according to a preliminary alignment list the GHSA provided to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the new Region 4-AAAAAA, including Campbell, would look a lot like the current Region 4-AAAAA. The only difference the addition of Douglas County and South Paulding and the subtraction of North Cobb. Of note at the Class AA level would be the inclusion of Marist in the same region featuring Lovett and Westminster.

And finally, the following post at the Campbell website this week brought a smile to the face of the Smyrna-Vinings Patch editor: “If you’re a sports junkie who enjoys the idea of working closely with a team, coaches, and athletic department as well as the media that cover the teams sports, then Campbell High School is looking for you. The Athletic Department is creating the Sports Information Directors Club.’’ 

Good luck with your new SID Club, Spartans!