ATHENS - Winning championships cements places in history, but winning does not always create history: the two are not synonymous.

The first time a Gainesville High School student athlete won an individual state championship in track and field was in 1918; his first name is unknown but his last is in the proverbial books: "Castleberry - Pole Vault."

In the 108 years since Castleberry vaulted into the history books many others have done the same in many ways, leaving little room for anymore first-to-do-it chances: it's hard to make history at a place with so much history. Wednesday at the Class 5A State Track and Field Meet held at Spec Towns Track at the University of Georgia, however, a few of the remaining opportunities were seized by five young women thinking they were competing simply to cement, not create.

In their 100 meter and 4X200 relay runs respectively; CeCe Cleveland (who competed in both events), Saniya Williams, Cheyenne Dorsey, and Shalonda Myers not only bested their fields, but became the first female student athletes in Gainesville's track and field history to win state in sprint events. The relay team took it a step further in its title run, becoming the first foursome to win no matter the Big Red gender.

With her state-championship-winning run of 11.98 in the 100, Cleveland attained status in Gainesville's rich athletic history known by few others, those few called legends: one-of-one. However, following her first unprecedented feat by anchoring Big Red relay's run to gold put the GHS junior in a herd of her own. Since Tom Paris won Gainesville's first individual state track and field title in the low-hurdles in 1925, only 14 GHS student athletes have earned podium (Top-3 finish) in a sprint event in Georgia's state meet; none were from the girls team and none were in relay (the 800 is not considered a sprint event, rather middle distance). In fact, prior to Wednesday's wins the highest finish at state for a sprinter from Big Red's girls track and field team was forth, and only two had done that: Priscilla Earls (1977) and Jada Harrison (2017), both in the 100.

The fifth member of Wednesday's history-making quintet, Armani Somers, did not place first in her event but earned first in GHS history as the only female, and just the third Red Elephant ever, to podium in the long jump. With her bronze-medal-winning jump of 18-8 (both second and first place had personal-best jumps of 18-8.50 and 20-3.75 respectively), Somers became one of two Gainesville girls to earn podium, and one of four to place in the Top-5 of a jumping event at the year's final meet: Erica Barnett (third in the triple jump in 1996, state title in the triple jump in 1998, and second in the high jump in 1998), Shelbee Carter (fourth in the triple jump in 2010), and Tija Blackwell (fourth in the high jump in 2017). The only GHS student athletes to podium prior to Somers in the long jump did so a long time ago: Harold DeLong (third place in 1940), Gainesville Athletics Hall of Fame member Jack Roberts (second place in 1948; he took fourth place as well in 1949), and Ramon Summerour (back-to-back state titles in 1992 and 1993).