Last week at the 2025 Gwinnett County Track and Field Championships hosted at Collins Hill, Greater Atlanta Christian had an impressive showing with the girls’ team placing sixth overall with 66 points. The Spartans walked away from this meet having set five county records, largely due to contributions from junior Ava Kitchings and sophomore Skylar Cunningham.
In the 100-meter dash Cunningham set a new county record running a time of 11.61 seconds. Incredibly, this record would only be enough to land her the silver medal in the event. Her teammate Kitchings would take home the gold running an impressive 11.57 in the same event, making her the current record holder.
Cunningham would of course walk away with a gold for herself, setting yet another county record, this time in the 200-meter dash, with a lightning fast 23.60 second time, which happens to be the fastest in the state of Georgia, followed by Kitchings with a time of 24.28 seconds. This secured both the gold and the silver for the Spartans. Freshman Sydney Sherrod also showed her prowess in this event coming in seventh. At her young age it’s an almost certainty that this won’t be the last time that her name comes up amongst the sprinters of the GHSA.
Sherrod was also able to secure the silver medal in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.24 seconds, an incredible feat for a freshman.
Though the individual talent of his athletes is notable, Coach Brad Kinser did express that there was some worry about how the team might mesh in team events such as the relays.
“Ava (Kitchings) was the Nike indoor national champion in the long jump and Skylar (Cunningham) made the finals in both the 60-meter and the 200-meter,” Kinser said. “We were looking forward to having both of them back. They stayed with their club until after Nike national indoor then they joined us, so that was the first time we were kind of at full strength, was at the county meet…I mean we had two or three weeks with them to kind of get acclimated and work on handoffs.”
It turns out that at least at this meet, a few weeks was more than enough to get the gold. The 400-meter relay, also known as the 4×100-meter relay, saw another county record broken and another gold for the Spartans of GAC. The team was comprised of Skylar Cunningham, Kelsey Bailey, Ava Kitchings, and Sydney Sherrod.
Unsurprisingly, the indoor national champion Kitchings also secured a gold in the long jump with 20 feet, 3.5 inches, setting another county record.
According to Kinser, “(Kitchings) has probably one of the top five or six jumps in the country right now, she’s an outstanding jumper.”
GAC isn’t just limited to success on the track or the sand, Ivey Nemorin was also able add a seventh place finish in the shot put with 35 feet, 4.5 inches.
This is a team with a number of athletes looking to medal at and or win a state championship. Their girls 4×100-meter, Cunningham’s 200-meter, and Kitchings’ long jump are all number one in all classifications in the state of Georgia. The post-season will be a bit different this year, however. While GAC is classified as 3A, once the post-season starts, they’ll be competing against schools within the private division.
On the boys’ side Coach Kinser sees a nice balanced team, led by 3-star Syracuse football signee, Gabe Daniels. He’s the defending state champion in the 200-meter dash having run a time of 21.36 seconds. This year at county, he was able to secure the silver medal with a time of 21.54 and fifth place in the 100-meter with a 10.75.
With all the talent at Coach Kinser’s disposal, it won’t be surprising to see some hardware brought back to the home of the Spartans and potentially, some more records broken.
Girls County Recap (* signifies a county record)
- 100 Meter Dash:
- 1st Place: Ava Kitchings – 11.57 seconds*
- 2nd Place: Skylar Cunningham – 11.61 seconds*
- 200 Meter Dash:
- 1st Place: Skylar Cunningham – 23.60 seconds*
- 3rd Place: Ava Kitchings – 24.28 seconds
- 7th Place: Sydney Sherrod – 25.06 seconds
- 400 Meter Dash:
- 2nd Place: Sydney Sherrod – 56.24 seconds
- 400 Meter Relay:
- 1st Place: GAC team (Skylar Cunningham, Kelsey Bailey, Ava Kitchings, Sydney Sherrod)*
- Long Jump:
- 1st Place: Ava Kitchings – 20 feet 3.5 inches*
- Shot Put:
- 7th Place: Ivey Nemorin – 35 feet 4.5 inches
Boys County Recap
- 100 Meter Dash:
- 5th Place: Gabriel Daniels – 10.75 seconds
- 200 Meter Dash:
- 2nd Place: Gabriel Daniels – 21.54 seconds
- Pole Vault:
- 6th Place (tie): Nicholas Prude – 11 feet 6 inches
- 6th Place (tie): Luke Syiek – 11 feet 6 inches
*via greateratlantachristian.org*
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