TIFTON — Athletes of the Tift County High School track and field earned praise and appreciation from the county board of education last week.

After their outstanding performance in qualifying for state and national levels of competition in several events, the track and field athletes of Tift County High School received a round of congratulations from the board during their June 12 meeting.

Board members presented each student athlete with a certificate as recognition of their accomplishment, backed up by a round of applause from the community members in attendance.

Track and field coach Javier Clark had plenty of praise to offer his team as well, expressing his honor for the opportunity to be leading and instructing such a talented crowd of athletes.

He proudly stated that many of the recognized students were on the rise to the top of their events, some not just in the state but the entire nation.

This included Jeremiah Rich, who had finished as the #2 freshman in region 6A for 110m hurdles and the 7th overall in the state, and Jamari Johnson, whose 6-10 result in high jump at state championships had placed him at #39 in the event across the country.

Some had even broken school records with their performances, like Anthony Pace in pole vaulting, who topped the boys school record with a 12-6 pole vault and would be going to nationals, and the boys 4x100m relay team, who broke the school record with a 41.5-second run at the state championships, finished at #6 in the sectionals and #18 in the state, and would be representing Tift County Schools at the national qualifying event the following Saturday.

Clark offered particularly high praise for athlete Nairobi Graham, noting she was not only among a very small number across the state to have qualified for the state championship in 400m, 300m, and 200m hurdles, but had broken the school’s record for girls 200m hurdles two years in a row, even blowing the record out of the water in her very first track meet.

He presented Graham with a plaque proclaiming her achievement alongside the certificate she and the other athletes received from the board.