OAKWOOD -- Marcquel Woodard felt the cold -- just like he felt North Hall's Quintin Miles breathing down his neck.
His response to both was what helped set him and the entire Red Elephants track team -- boys and girls -- apart on Tuesday at the Hall County Track and Field Championships.
Woodard dug in to fend off Miles over the final 200 meters of the boys 800, part of a four-gold-medal performance for the Gainesville standout that helped the Red Elephants to a title. Meanwhile, the Gainesville girls pulled off the ultimate closing performance, taking first and fourth in the 4x400 meter relay to nip Flowery Branch by three points.
The results -- combined with a vigorous warm-up routine -- helped shield the Red Elephants from the bitter, biting winds that whipped around West Hall's Spartan Stadium.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Scroll down for a list of all of Tuesday's top three individual performances.)
"You don't really feel the cold when you're running; you feel it before you run when you're warming up," Woodard said. "That's why you have to focus in warm ups and take them seriously."
In fact Gainesville seemed to excel through temperatures that dipped into the 30s and a wind that gave proceedings the feel of mid-winter -- in Chicago.
"We had several personal records today; the weather doesn't matter, so long as you prepare well and warm up the right way," Gainesville boys coach Nick Nieselowski said. "I've been preaching that all season long, and they listened today."
Gainesville's girls stayed warm throughout but caught fire on the final event of the night, overhauling Region 8-AAAAA rival Flowery Branch in the process. The Lady Red Elephants "A" relay squad led the way, taking the lead at the start of the third lap of the four-lap event before tearing away for the victory over the final 800 meters.
"We knew we would be in a fight today, and the girls gave a great effort today," Lady Red Elephants coach Wayne Jones said. "This means everything to us to win Hall County. We felt like we left a lot of points out there last year, when we finished third. And even though we still left points out there today -- everybody did -- we did what we had to do, and it's great to win this."
What the Lady Red Elephants did was rack up points with depth, edging the team title after claiming three gold medals, three silver and five bronze, along with placing in the top five in each event save the 1,600 and 3,200.
"This shows me we can compete for a region title," Jones said. "I was shocked. I expected the weather to keep the numbers low today, but we had a lot of athletes right at their average."
Kabree Randolph (triple jump), Sara Hayes (300 hurdles) and the 4x400 relay team -- consisting of Hayes, Randolph, Mia Buffington and Happi Sims -- each competed their way into first place, as Gainesville edged out a Flowery Branch team that also won three events -- Dayzjah Loving (400 meters), Alisha Parks (shot put) and Brisha Latham (100 meters).
West Hall's girls also claimed three gold medals, including first place for LeNiesha Kearse in the 100 hurdles and first for Maia Caldwell-Booker in the long jump -- though Caldwell-Booker missed the 100 meters for precautionary reasons after tweaking her hamstring.
Chestatee's girls also dominated the distance events, sweeping the 1,600 and 3,200 behind Tori Mullinax and Sarah Beth English, who finished 1-2 in both events.
"If you can compete in this weather, you can compete in anything," Kearse said. "It's not the cold so much as the wind, because it was swirling and really could change things if it got strong in the middle of the event."
Wintry conditions couldn't dampen some impressive performances on the day, however, including two victories for North Hall's Patrick Chappell in the shot put and discus.
"You just have to keep warm and do what you do," Chappell said. "Your muscles are tight, and it's tough, but you just try and block it out."
The Trojans won five events, including a sweep of the distance races -- Tucker LoCicero in the 3,200 and Witt Nix in the 1,600 -- and Isaac Seid's 300 hurdles victory. Yet it wasn't enough to match Gainesville's seven first place finishes, as Woodard claimed the 400, 800 and long jump (in only his second competitive attempt in the event), and Orrin Ragland won the 200 and triple jump. The duo also ran in both of the Red Elephants' victorious relay teams.
It was far from a two-man effort for the Red Elephants, however, as Gainesville also finished second in five events and third in six events and did not miss out on a top five performance in any single competition.
"We had a bad meet last weekend, so it's great to come out here fully loaded and rebound like this," Nieselowski said. "It really looks like it's coming together for us."
RESULTS, HALL COUNTY TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
March 26, at West Hall High School, Oakwood
TEAM RESULTS
Boys
1. Gainesville, 188
2. North Hall, 103.5
3. Flowery Branch, 83
4. West Hall, 76
5. Riverside Military, 69
6. Chestatee, 44.5
7. East Hall, 23.5
8. Johnson, 17.5
Girls
1. Gainesville, 127
2. Flowery Branch, 124
3. West Hall, 92
4. North Hall, 91
5. Chestatee, 85
6. Johnson, 13
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS, TOP 3
Boys
100 meters
1. Jay Crawford, West Hall, 12.14 seconds
2. Brandon Hernandez, Gainesville, 12.22
3. Quay Jerrals, East Hall, 12.25
200 meters
1. Orrin Ragland, Gainesville, 23.61
2. Jay Crawford, West Hall, 24.48
3. Kwon Williams, West Hall, 24.66
400 meters
1. Marcquel Woodard, Gainesville, 52.55
2. Alex Longoria, Gainesville, 53.00
3. Noah Carlisle, West Hall, 54.11
800 meters
1. Marcquel Woodard, Gainesville, 2:03.94
2. Quintin Miles, North Hall, 2:04.09
3. Alex Longoria, Gainesville, 2:05.83
1,600 meters
1. Witt Nix, North Hall, 4:39.68
2. Nicholas Ashmead, Flowery Branch, 4:39.91
3. Bryce Shuebert, North Hall, 4:47.62
3,200 meters
1. Tucker LoCicero, North Hall, 10:10.10
2. James Slavik, Flowery Branch, 10:14.31
3. Zack Hill, North Hall, 10:19.27
110 hurdles
1. Adrian Humphrey, Riverside, 16.89
2. Ithello Cross, Gainesville, 17.61
3. Lee Jennings, Gainesville, 18.02
300 hurdles
1. Isaac Seid, North Hall, 43.79
2. Adrian Humphrey, Riverside, 44.71
3. Tucker Pearson, Riverside, 45.44
4x100 relay
1. Gainesville A, 45.76
2. Riverside A, 46.01
3. West Hall A, 46.48
4x400 relay
1. Gainesville A, 3:42.70
2. West Hall A, 3:50.62
3. Flowery Branch B, 3:51.32
High Jump
1. Isaac Mize, Flowery Branch, 5-feet-8*
2. Noah Carlisle, West Hall, 5-8
3. Lee Jennings, Gainesville, 5-4
Pole Vault
1. Skyler Toney, Riverside, 13-11
2. Ben Liu, Gainesville, 11-0*
3. Joseph Lozano, Gainesville, 11-0
Long Jump
1. Marcquel Woodard, Gainesville, 18-9
2. Cameron Drake, Gainesville, 18-3
3. Chris Howard, Riverside, 17-6.25
Triple Jump
1. Orrin Ragland, Gainesville, 39-7.75
2. Marvin Rosario, Chestatee, 39-4
3. Cameron Drake, Gainesville, 38-11
Shot Put
1. Patrick Chappell, North Hall, 47-10
2. Dylan Truelove, North Hall, 42-11
3. Hunter Atkinson, West Hall, 41-11.5
Discus
1. Patrick Chappell, North Hall, 138-0
2. Drew Bryant, North Hall, 136-6
3. Colton Quinones, Gainesville, 129-11
Girls
100 meters
1. Brisha Latham, Flowery Branch, 13.90
2. Nana Awuku, North Hall, 13.92
3. Mia Buffington, Gainesville, 14.22
200 meters
1. Lindsey Burke, Johnson, 28.35
2. Nicole Kirkman, Flowery Branch, 28.94
3. Alexis Lay, Gainesville, 29.36
400 meters
1. Dayzjah Loving, Flowery Branch, 1:02.97
2. Heather Moore, Flowery Branch, 1:03.85
3. Happi Sims, Gainesville, 1:06.08
800 meters
1. Maggee Wilson, Chestatee, 2:33.21
2. Sara Hayes, Gainesville, 2:33.25
3. Alyssa Greene, Flowery Branch, 2:39.85
1,600 meters
1. Tori Mullinax, Chestatee, 5:50.58
2. Sarah Beth English, Chestatee, 5:52.17
3. Victoria Rogers, North Hall, 5:55.53
3,200 meters
1. Tori Mullinax, Chestatee, 12:17.51
2. Sarah Beth English, 12:18.57
3. Victoria Rogers, North Hall, 12.21.30
100 hurdles
1. LeNiesha Kearse, West Hall, 15.91
2. Gabrielle Hoffman, North Hall, 17.37
3. Summer Boone, Flowery Branch, 17.60
300 hurdles
1. Sara Hayes, Gainesville, 50.41
2. Nana Awuku, North Hall, 51.29
3. Summer Boone, Flowery Branch, 52.70
4x100 relay
1. West Hall A, 50.54
2. Gainesville A, 51.88
3. Flowery Branch A, 52.72
4x400 relay
1. Gainesville A, 4:22.93
2. Flowery Branch A, 4:23.65
3. West Hall A, 4:39.82
High Jump
1. Kristin Moroz, Chestatee, 5-0
2. Haley Haynes, West Hall, 4-10
3. Denisha Lyles, Gainesville, 4-8*
Pole Vault
1. Gabrielle Hoffman, North Hall, 9-0
2. Beth Hildebrant, West Hall, 8-6
3. Alexis Smith, Gainesville, 7-0
Long Jump
1. Maia Caldwell-Booker, West Hall, 15-4
2. Kim Hylton, Chestatee, 14-1
3. Kayla Tithof, Flowery Branch, 13-8
Triple Jump
1. Kabree Randolph, Gainesville, 30-7
2. Tori Alfredson, West Hall, 29-10
3. Gabrielle Hoffman, North Hall, 29-01
Shot Put
1. Alisha Parks, Flowery Branch, 34-10.5
2. Stacia Hopkins, Gainesville, 34-6
3. Jarlissa Latimore, West Hall, 33-3.5
Discus
1. Harper Seymour, North Hall, 104-2
2. Alisha Parks, Flowery Branch, 102-8
3. Tiffany Culver, Chestatee, 86-4