Coach Larry Cosby’s Region 1AAAA champion Bearcats and coach Tandria Phillips’ Region 1AAAA runner-up Lady Cats were honored Wednesday night at the annual Bainbridge High School Track and Field awards banquet at the Decatur County Memorial Coliseum.

The Bearcats went on to finish fifth, and the Lady Cats went on to finish 13th in strong 86-team state Class AAAA meet fields.

The top Bearcats sprinter award went to VaShawn Samuels, who was on the 4-by-100-meter relay team with Octavious Scott, Eric Henry and Dantavious Campbell that finished third in the state Class AAAA meet in Jefferson with a time of 3 minutes, 23.21 seconds.

The top Lady Cats sprinter award went to Nancy Session, who set a new school record in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25 seconds. The old record was 25.34. She was fourth in the 200-meter dash in the state Class AAAA meet in Albany with a time of 25.85.

High point winners were Dantavious Campbell of the Bearcats and Jerisha Sutton of the Lady Cats. Campbell was third in the state in the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 14.81 and fourth in the state in the 300-meter hurdles in a time of 40.03. Sutton set a new school record in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 46.68. The old record was 46.93.

Campbell was also on the state third-place finishing 4-by-400-meter relay team with Scott, Henry, Campbell and Samuel. Their time was 3:23.21.

The Bearcats top field events award was won by Delonta Martistee, and the Lady Cats top field events award was won by Vanessa Jones.

Martistee won the high jump at the Region 1AAAA meet at Westside Macon High School with a leap of 6 feet, 6 inches, and Jones participated in the long jump and triple jump.

April Thomas, who won the 1,600-meter run at the Region 1AAAA meet at Westside Macon High School with a new school record time of 5:35.89, won the Lady Cats top distance award. The old record time was 5:51.89.

Thomas also set a new school record in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 12:12.57. The old record was 13:00.61.

The most improved Bearcats performer award went to Denzel Gamble, who had a fifth-place, medal-winning time of 40.36 in the 300-meter run in the state Class AAAA meet.

The Bearcats coaches award for hard work and dedication went to Henry, who had a sixth-place, medal-winning performance in the 400-meter run at the state Class AAAA meet with a time of 50.17.

Dantavious Campbell and Vanessa Jones won the academic awards for having the highest grade point averages on their teams.

Senior plaques for outstanding leadership were presented to Dantavious Campbell, Leonard Borders and Brian Hughes of the Bearcats, and Vanessa Jones, Olivia Beard, Davina Thomas and Jerica Richardson of the Lady Cats