Between deep breaths, Southwest Junior High’s Dylan Hedges slowly pulled off his red track spikes and placed them back in the shoe box below him.

It was evident Hedges and his shoes had experienced enough miles for one day.

Participating only in long-distance events at the Bulldog Relays on Wednesday afternoon, the ninth-grader entered his last meet of the year with enthusiasm.

Four hours, four miles and four gold medals later, he left, well, tired.

“I’m really happy that I could finish strong with my junior-high track career,” Hedges said. “That was really hard.”

Southwest took a clean sweep of the boys and girls team titles at its home event. The Bulldog boys had 104 points and the girls 128. The West boys took second with 80 points, while South held on for the runner-up position with 81 points on the girls side.

After winning the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 relay titles, Hedges had to prepare himself mentally to compete in the final event, the 3,200.

“I was pretty confident about it at the beginning of the day,” Hedges said. “I got a little shaky after the 800, but I recovered and felt pretty good before the start of the two-mile.”

Hedges looked comfortable the entire way, finishing 16 seconds ahead of the next competitor with a time of 11:10 to round out his perfect day.

“I was just glad to get it over with,” Hedges said. “That last lap was tough.”

West Junior High's Brooke Carter lands in the long-jump pit during the Bulldog Relays. Southwest won the boys and girls titles at the city championships Wednesday at Southwest.

South’s Kristina Taylor took home a pair of gold medals, winning the 100 and 400, but saved her best for the last event of the meet.

Taylor competed on South’s 1,600 team, which had been chasing the school record of 4:24.

“It meant a lot because we’ve been trying for a while,” Taylor said. “We tried last year and never got it, and this year we wanted to break it so much.”

The team especially coveted the record after its last meet, when the scoreboard showed a school-record time, but the official timer had the team finishing just above the 4:24 mark.

The Cougars left no doubt this time.

South finished with a 4:18, shattering the school record by six seconds and sending the teammates into a frenzy of hugs and screams following the race.

Though tired, Taylor said she never felt the fatigue before the last event.

“I just wanted to run my heart out,” Taylor said. “All the coaches were around helping us to run faster.”

West’s Courtney Barber added two golds and two silvers, winning the high jump and 200 and placing second in the 100 and 400.

She said her toughest challenge came on the final stretch of her last race, the 200.

“When I got to the curve, I just sprinted out,” Barber said. “I was hurting bad.”

Barber didn’t show it, finishing strong with a 27.65 to win her second gold.

Marcus Holman was the highlight for Central, winning the 100 and long jump and taking second in the 200.