Silver Bluff's Joshua Smith wins triple jump state title in AA state meet

           Aiken – Joshua Smith won a state championship in the triple jump and the 4x400-meter relay team won a state title as well to lead the Silver Bluff High School boys track and field team to a fifth-place finish in the AA state meet on May 18 at Lower Richland High in Hopkins.

           Smith claimed the triple jump with a jump of 13.66 meters. The 4x4 team of Jessie Shelley, Mickenzie Atterberry, Devonta Parker, Keyaiden Willaiims, Gage Walker, Aiden Coates and Justin Greene won in a time of 3 minutes, 25.77 seconds.

           Jayden Fuller finished second in the shot put and fifth in the discus for the Bulldogs. Third-place finishers were Hizzari Gantt in the long jump and the 4x100 team of Shelley, Atterberry, Trevion Harris, Fuller, Gantt, Willaims, Parker and Coates. Harris finished seventh and Gantt eighth, respectively in the 100-meter dash to score points.

           Silver Bluff finished in a tie for fifth with Hampon County with 47 points. Fairfield Central won with 83 points followed by Greer Middle College with 58, Academic Magnet with 55 and Gray Collegiate Academy with 54.

           Others who competed in the state meet were Fuller in the 200 dash, Coates in the long jump, Atterberry in the 110-meter hurdles  and Jaydon Eason in the shot put.

           The Silver Bluff girls finished 21^st out of 31 teams scoring, finishing with 8 points.

           A’Niyah Coates scored five of those points with a fourth-place finish in the long jump. The 4x4 team of Malia Bey, MaKya Bing, Coates and Aaliyah Washington got the other points with a sixth-place finish.

           The only other qualifier for the Silver Bluff girls was the 4x1 relay team of  Bey, Bing, Coates, and Washington.

           The student-athletes who competed in the state meet did so by finishing in the top eight in the AA upper state on May 11 at Liberty High. Upper state champions for the Bulldog boys were the 4x4 relay team, Atterberry in the 110-meter hurdles, Smith in the triple jump and Fuller in the discus.

           Other Silver Bluff male athletes who competed in the upper state meet were Joenathan Peeples in the shot put, Aiden Coates in the long jump, the 4x800 relay team, Gerald Lark in the 400 dash, Caden Crapes in the 1,600-meter run, Walker in the 400 and Fuller in the 200.

           The SB girls who competed in the upper state meet but did not advance were A’Niyah Coates in both the 100 and long jump, Washington in both the 100 and 200, Bey in the 400, Cumera Lee in the high jump, Faith Green in both the high jump and the 400 hurdles and the 4x8 relay team.

           The Silver Bluff boys tied with Pelion for the Region 2 title with 183 points on May 1 at Batesburg-Leesville High. Batesburg-Leesville was just behind with 178.

           Region champions for the Silver Bluff boys were Harris in the 100, Shelley in the 200, Walker in the 400, Atterberry in the 110 hurdles the 4x1 relay team, the 4x4 relay team, Gantt in the long jump Smith in the triple jump and Eason in the shot put.

           The Silver Bluff girls finished third with 89 points. The region champions were A’Niyah Coates in the long jump and the 4x4 relay team.