Starr’s Mill won the Georgia Athletic Directors Association (GADA) Director’s Cup over all AAAAA schools in Georgia for the third time in four years, along with a first-time sweep of the boys, girls and overall standings.
The Director’s Cup winner in each classification is based on a point system and is designed to recognize the athletic program that show overall excellence in all sports.
McIntosh finished fourth overall and in the boys’ standings while the girls came in third. Buford was the runner-up in all three categories, while Carrollton and McIntosh shared the 3-4 spots in all three.
Whitewater had a seventh-place overall finish, sixth in girls and 17th in boys.
Each school gets 100 points for a state championship and 90 points for being the state runner-up in a sport. After that the point allocations differ slightly between bracketed and non-bracketed sports. For example, any team that finishes in the first round of a 32-team bracket gets 25 points.
Starr’s Mill won state championships this year in boys’ and girls’ golf while finishing second in boys’ cross-country, boys’ track, girls’ lacrosse and girls’ swimming. The Panthers ended the season in the top four in baseball, boys’ soccer, girls’ soccer and volleyball. They placed third in girls’ cross-country and cheerleading. Points were also earned from state rankings in eight other sports.
McIntosh got points from state titles in boys’ and girls’ cross-country as well as volleyball. State runner-up finishes in boys’ golf, boys’ soccer and cheerleading added to the total, as did a semifinal slot for boys’ tennis. Additional points came from 12 other sports.
For Whitewater, there was a state championship in girls’ soccer along with a fourth-place finish in cheerleading, seventh place in boys’ cross-country and a quarterfinal appearance in boys’ soccer and volleyball. Eight other sports garnered points for the school.
In the 7A rankings, East Coweta finished ninth overall, seventh for the girls and 12th for the boys. The softball team won a state championship and the school came in third in boys’ riflery and coed cheerleading while reaching the quarterfinals in boys’ soccer and volleyball.
Northgate’s girls came in 14th in 6A, having won a state title in cheerleading.
Landmark placed 10th in the rankings for 1A girls, due in large part to a state championship in cross-country and a third-place finish in track.
Complete standings and point breakdowns can be found at gadaonline.net.
