Over three weeks in late April and early May, Gainesville track and field not only competed in the three most important meets on its schedule, but wrapped up the 2025 season with a flourish.

First there was the Region 7-5A championship meet at Seckinger High School where the Red Elephants not only swept the team competitions, but qualified for sectionals in 11-of-18 events on the girls side and 10-of-18 on the boys.

For the girls, this year's region title was their third in a row and they won it in dominant fashion earning six first-place finishes, including a gold-medal sweep of the four relay events, and six more top-three podium places en route to scoring 131 points to second-place Milton's 117.

Many contributed to the girls third-consecutive title, but the Red Elephants pace was set by senior Josabeth Graciano who saved her best region runs for her final region ones, finishing with four gold medals. On Day 1, the Augusta University commit placed first in the 1600 (5:14.11) - the event's second-place finisher ran a time of 5:14.12 - before earning gold along with relay mates Vanessa Torres, Arianny Hoyos, and Josie Brosky as the lead leg in the 4X800 (9:43.06)

Day 2 brought another photo-finish gold for Graciano as she bested teammate Torres in the 800 by less than a second. Her fourth and final first-place finish was again as part of a whole as she ran second leg in the 4X400 relay, helping fellow Red Elephants Kyndal Cohen, Hoyos and Mercer commit Shanise Newton beat Johns Creek by nearly 10 seconds.

Gainesville's 4X100 team of Kadence Rucker, Cohen, Saniya Williams, and Sincere Cleveland also won a region title as did the 4X200 relay team of Newton, Cohen, Williams, and Cleveland. Cohen and Newton finished second and third in the 400, while Newton also finished third in the 200. Cleveland ran to third in the 100 while freshman Shay Jones finished with a bronze in the high jump.
Shailyn Jones third in high jump

Gainesville's boys team was equally as dominant at region with four first-place finishes and four more top-three podium places. The result of the individual efforts was a wide swath between Big Red's team and all the others, including host Seckinger, which finished second to the Red Elephants 127 points with 106.50.

Damauri Bailey (49.52) and Jerious Eberhardt (49.67) finished one and two in the 400; Melvin Hendrix won the 300 meter hurdles running a time of 41.04; Judah Knight (45-1.25) finished first in the triple jump; and the 4X400 relay team of Hendrix, Taz Smith, Bailey, and Joseph Greer nipped Johns Creek by less than a second to win gold.

Dacien Cohen finished second in the long jump, Grayson Hartman third in pole vault, and the 4X200 team of Knight, Bailey, Trent Jones, and Eberhardt took silver.

The second week of the season's final three brought sectionals at Greenbrier High School in Evans, and the opportunity to qualify for the Class 5A State Championships the following week at Barron Stadium in Rome.

Based on region meet finishes, the girls qualified for 11 events at sectionals, the boys 10 and when all was said and done at Greenbrier, Gainesville's girls qualified nine student-athletes for the state meet in eight events while the boys qualified seven individuals in six events.

Highlights from the weekend included a win by the boys 4X200 relay team, which bested Brunswick by .67 of a second. The boys and girls 4X200 teams along with the girls 4X100 relay team took second place. Judah Knight (46-0) placed fifth in the triple jump; Josabeth Graciano ran to fourth in the 800; Graciano and Kyndal Cohen finished fifth respectively in the 1600 and 400; and Melvin Hendrix earned a fifth-place finish in the 300 hurdles. Also of note, Big Red's girls 4X800 and boys 4X400 finished fourth, while the 4X400 relay team finished fifth

At last weekend's state meet in Rome, Gainesville's boys and girls 4X200 relay teams ran to podium finishes with each taking bronze, while Cohen racing in the 400 and the girls 4X100 team earned fourth place. Finally, Graciano and the girls 4X800 relay team each finished fifth with Graciano racing in the 800.