Lucas Vance
Staff Writer
WINNSBORO — The Fairfield Central Lady Griffins competed in the AA Track and Field State Championships at Lower Richland High School this past Saturday.
Aliyah Miller brought home the gold after running a time of 12.31 in the 100-meter. Miller competed in the state finals as a freshman and last year as a junior.
Winning the state title was not only an emotional time for Miller but for her family as well. Her parents have been by her side since she began running track in the eighth grade.
Fairfield Central head coach Cedrick Simpson was proud to see Miller go out as a champion in her senior year.
“For her to win the title was like a monkey off her back,” Simpson said. “She has put in a lot of hard work and really deserves to be a champion.”
Miller almost brought home two gold medals borrowing a photo finish in the 200-meter. Miller ran a time of 25.88 and lost out by just five hundredths of a second to Batesburg-Leesville’s Kaliyah Andrews (25.83).
“It was close,” Simpson stated. “We thought she (Miller) had won in a tight race.”
The Lady Griffins 4 x 100 meter relay team of Miller, Shytaneece Woodard, Chelsea Seibles and Jada Martin were close to wrapping up a medal as well, but they came up just short and earned a fourth place finish with a time of 50.08. In the long jump, Martin placed sixth with a lunge of 15 feet and 5.5 inches in addition to placing seventh in the triple jump with a distance of 33 feet.
Devonta’ Foster came up just shy of a medal for the boys in the 100-meter with a time of 10.91. Foster’s fourth place finish was just one hundredth of a second behind the third place runner and just four hundredths of a second behind the top time. Despite not earning any medals on the boys’ side Simpson believes the races were as tight as they could have been.
“We had the chance to bring home a lot of medals,” Simpson noted. “It was the difference of a half-second here and a half-second there.”
The boys’ 4 x 100 meter relay team of Foster, Larry Bell, Joseph Young and Shadarious Hopkins came in fifth place with a time of 43.27.
Contact Lucas Vance at 635-4016 ext. 15.


















