Clarke Central High School boys varsity track and field team captains Noah Kilpatrick, Waylon Vaughn and James “JD” Daniel (from left to right), all seniors, pose on the awards podium at the Region 8-AAAAA Championships at Loganville High School on April 23. During the 1600-meter run on April 23, the CCHS boys varsity track and field team swept the top three spots, a surreal experience for Daniel. “(Getting third in the 1600-meter at regionals) didn’t feel real because I had been behind my fellow teammates during every workout this season. Passing them at the end and getting third was definitely a real excitement to me,” Daniel said. “I don’t really remember how it felt crossing the (finish) line, but it was pretty unreal afterwards.” Photo courtesy of Rhia Moreno
The CCHS boys varsity track and field team is building momentum heading into the state championship meet at Spec Towns Track on May 13 under the leadership of experienced runners.
After claiming its first Region 8-AAAAA Championship in 15 years, bringing home nine state qualifiers from sectionals at Greenbrier High School and producing three top-five finishers under 4:20 minutes in the 1600-meter race in one season, the Clarke Central High School boys varsity track and field team has delivered a historic season.
However, none of the team’s success is coincidental. Behind the medals is a team culture built by experienced runners who guide others through relentless work, creating a defining factor behind the team’s identity.
Clarke Central High School boys varsity track and field team captains Noah Kilpatrick, Waylon Vaughn, and James “JD” Daniel (from left to right) run in the 1600-meter race at state sectionals at Greenbrier High School on May 2. Standing at the end of his high school athletic career, Daniel described running as self-fulfilling and hoped the state championships would make all the hidden work pay off. “I feel really grateful, and I hope I can put my head down, chop the wood and stay neck and neck with my teammates,” Daniel said. “I think that if I can comfortably assimilate into the team culture and training intensity, I will have a good shot at rising to the potential I have.” Photo courtesy of Rhia Moreno
“What surprised me most (this season) is our team culture,” CCHS boys varsity track and field head coach Zachary Howard said. “(I) watched our sprinters come together with our distance (runners) and create a unified front where everyone (competed) for each other. It wasn’t always (about) performance. Obviously, winning the (Region 8-AAAAA) Championship was a big surprise, but (seeing) guys willing to put it all on the line for each other was (more impressive).”
According to Track Football Consortium (a unique, high-energy sports performance clinic designed to bridge the gap between football, track, and strength & conditioning coaches), track and field is largely an individual sport with a team component. Yet, on the CCHS team, the balance between individual achievement and teamwork has revealed a selfless culture built through peer leadership. Boys co-captain Noah Kilpatrick, a CCHS senior and distance runner, credited his success to the support of co-captain James “JD” Daniel, also a CCHS senior, who has pushed his development as a runner.
“(At regionals my junior year, Daniel) paced (CCHS boys varsity track and field co-captain Waylon Vaughn and me) for (the first) 800 meters of the 1600-meter race, (running) slower than he could because he wanted the two of us to run faster and keep up with him,” Kilpatrick said. “Halfway into the race, he sped up. (Vaughn and I) sped up with him, and we were able to stay on him and run the fast time. As a team, we (placed first, second and third).”
Kilpatrick, currently ranked No. 22 in Georgia in the 1600-meter race, continues to shape the team’s culture by pushing beyond his own limit. After tearing a ligament in November, 2025, an injury that kept him from running until February, Kilpatrick rebounded to get a time of 4:19.40 minutes in the 1600-meter race at sectionals on May 2, turning a season of setbacks into one of the team’s proudest performances.
“(Before sectionals), my biggest goal was (to make) state, which I did last year. (At this point,) it’s my own personal pressure,” Kilpatrick said. “Nobody’s expecting us to run 4:15 minutes, but JD and Vaughn and I are all within two seconds of the school record (of 4:17.19 minutes that) hasn’t been broken since 1976. It’d be really cool if all three of us could get under that.”
“(I) watched our sprinters come together with our distance (runners) and create a unified front where everyone (competed) for each other. It wasn’t always (about) performance. “
— Zachary Howard,
CCHS boys varsity track and field head coach
The same drive can also be found in other veterans on the team. Daniel, a CCHS senior who has committed to the University of Georgia, is expected to take on multiple events (4×800-meter relay, 800-meter, and 1600-meter) at the state championships on May 13 at Spec Towns Track, not just to hit another personal record but to push the program further.
“In the past, I was always very focused on personal performance,” Daniel said. “This year, I feel like my main goal is to put up the best numbers I can for my team and help us place the best at state. I’m coming into this with more of a team-minded strategy than ever before.”
A graphic shows the members of the Clarke Central High School boys varsity track and field team who are competing in the state championship meet at Spec Towns Track on May 13. Graphic by Lea D’Angelo
This year’s state championships, hosted in Athens, represent more than just Georgia’s biggest stage for track and field. For the Gladiators, competing in their hometown is the highest honor for some of the team’s most decorated athletes as they close out their high school careers, according to CCHS boys track and field assistant coach Lee Patterson.
“I think it’s a huge reward (for our athletes). They work their entire careers to get to this point, and (now) they’re rewarded with a home meet for all the marbles,” Patterson said. “It’s a really big deal to win anything, and to do it in your own backyard makes it even sweeter (because) this rarely happens and we’ll probably have more fans and local people supporting (our athletes) and watching them run. The community is going to rally behind them.”
Clarke Central High School boys varsity track and field team captains James “JD” Daniel, Noah Kilpatrick, and Waylon Vaughn (from left to right) run in the 1600-meter race at the Region 8-AAAAA Championships at Loganville High School on April 22, 2025. Daniel found an upward trajectory as he gained more experience running track throughout high school. “I’ve developed from coming into track and field for fun to developing it into business, and I believe that my (biggest) development is from learning the mental game around running because my inexperience as a freshman was holding me back, and in my sophomore and junior years, I was too intense. Now I’ve found this healthy medium between fun and working and it’s turned out really well for me.” Photo courtesy of Rhia Moreno
For senior leaders on the CCHS boys varsity track and field team, this state championship is not the first time they have competed together on this stage, but it will be their final opportunity to compete together after sticking by each other through practices and state qualifying rounds.
“I am excited to run the mile with my teammates (at state), because that is a pretty rare occurrence. I’ve never seen it in my recent memory, to have three people qualify for the same event at the state level,” Kilpatrick said. “We will have a unique advantage and position in the race (because) we can work and run as a team as opposed to running individually, like (most) people do.”
With a region championship and multiple state qualifications under their collective belt, the Gladiators enter the final stretch of the season carrying both confidence and momentum.
“Even though sectionals were such a highlight of my season, I believe it is definitely not the peak of my trajectory. State is about 10 days after sectionals, and I hope to show out (there) and shock everybody as an underdog,” Daniel said. “Growing up in Athens, it’s always been a big dream of mine to compete (at) UGA. (After going) to state (before), I have learned not to shy away when the lights get bright.”
As the season comes to an end, Patterson values the kind of leadership the current senior leaders have embodied beyond achievements. The team’s success is reflected daily in how its athletes act both in and out of practice, something he hopes future leaders will continue to build on.
“(Some leaders) tell you what to do, but they’re not doing it. (These seniors) have been demonstrating exactly what’s expected to keep the program at a high tier. They’re like coaches on the field. They run together, and they keep each other accountable. On weekends, they text each other (to practice),” Patterson said. “(Besides, Kilpatrick and Vaughn) are the valedictorian and salutatorian. So there’s a standard for upcoming (leaders) to live up to and uphold (in balancing) school, personal life and running.
To Kilpatrick, the team’s future is promising, as the younger athletes have shown potential to build upon the foundation established by the Class of 2026 seniors.
“I think we’ve done a fairly decent job of instilling hard work in the team,” Kilpatrick said. “There’s a big focus on working together and progressing as a team, and we want to continue that culture. (When) our freshmen ran a time trial, (Daniel, Vaughn and I) paced them, (so) they had somebody to chase down. (Seeing them run), I think the times that I’m running are going to be well surpassed by the time these kids are my age, so I’m excited (for the team).”
“(Some leaders) tell you what to do, but they’re not doing it. (These seniors) have been demonstrating exactly what’s expected to keep the program at a high tier. They’re like coaches on the field. They run together, and they keep each other accountable. On weekends, they text each other (to practice).”
— Lee Patterson,
CCHS boys track and field assistant coach
To Howard, the results are not what define the team, but rather the character embedded within its culture through years of determined leadership. Results may change, but that culture left behind will endure.
“I hope the (future) leadership carries over (what) our (current) seniors left behind, the feeling of being the region champions,” Howard said. “I’m proud of how our kids have flipped our culture in the past year: how we show up and compete on race day, how we talk to coaches (and) how we represent ourselves in public. We’ve really taken on the identity of our school culture, a school of champions.”
