WCHS athletes excel on Day 1 of region meet
By Mark Turner
White County News
T
he opening day of the Region 6-AAA track meet Tuesday in Cleveland turned out to be a little wet, but the White County High School teams turned in a solid effort, including posting four individual region titles.
John Phillips and Bryson Philyaw won region titles on the boy's side, with Logan Fain and Nevaeh McCollough winning region events in the girl's division. In the team standings, both WCHS teams are sitting in second place heading into the running finals, which are set to be held today at 1 p.m. at Warrior Stadium.
North Hall leads the boy's standings with 96 points, with the Warriors next with 52 points. Lumpkin County (48), Dawson County (42), Chestatee (38), Pickens (20) and Johnson (7) round out the boy's field.
On the girl's side, North Hall scored 78.5 point during the opening day of the competition, with the Lady Warriors right on their heels with 78 points. Pickens is third at 67 points, followed by Chestatee (46), Dawson County (38.5), Lumpkin County (29) and Johnson (2) to finish off the field. Greater Atlanta Christian is not in the region tournament because they will compete in the Class A-AAA state meet in May.
Girls Division
The Lady Warriors got individual title performances from Fain and McCollough, but also had several other athletes post Top 4 finishes to earn a spot in the Class AAA sectional next week in Jefferson.
Fain won the discus with a mark of 105-0, setting a personal record in the event with Pickens' Caleigh Hofford second at 102-10. Fain and Hofford were the only two throwers to eclipse the 100-feet mark. Cierra Bailey also earned a state sectional spot with a fourth place finish, recording a PR with a mark of 95-7. Fain was third in the shot put with a 31-1.5 mark and Bailey had another PR at 29-8 to finish fourth.
McCollough won the triple jump with a PR of 33-9.50, beating Chestatee's Miranda Hernandez, who had a jump of 31-4. Wright earned a sectional spot with a jump of 30-7, and Tyla Nix was fifth at 30-3.50.
Tallulah Shack was second in the pole vault with a height of 9-0, as North Hall's Rachel Seid took the top spot at 10-9, which is one of the Top 25 vaults in Georgia this season.
The 3,200-meter finals were also held on the opening day and Julie Black posted a PR of 11:51.55 to finish second behind North Hall's Summer Muxlow, who turned in a time of 11:28.85. Muxlow's time is among the Top 50 times in the state this spring. Addison Grizzle was 14th in the race with a time of 17:00.00.
Emma Hare had a third place finish in the long jump with a PR of 15-8.25, while Darla Wright was 10th at 13-10.75 and Asia Moss was 12th at 13-8.25.
In the 4x800-meter race, the team of Carly Black, Julie Black, Alexis Kelley and Asia Moss qualified for sectionals with a time of 10:52.57 to finish in third place. The Lady Warriors' 2x400-meter team of Ila Duff, Nix, Moss and Wright had a time of 1:57.49 to finish fourth and earn a sectional spot.
The Lady Warriors have a large contingent that will compete in the running finals this afternoon at WCHS, led by Maddie Evans, who had the top time in the 400-meter preliminaries at 1:03.40.
Kady McCullough also qualified for the finals with a time of 1:05.40. Evans and McCollough also qualified for the 200-meter finals.
Carly Black had the second-fastest time in the 800-meter preliminaries and Hare qualified in the 100-meters event.
Boys Division
Philyaw won the pole vault by clearing the bar at 12-6, which is a career-best height. The mark also placed Philyaw among the Top 50 pole vaulters in the state in all classifications this season. North Hall's Karson Lanier was second at 12-0. River Shack was eighth a PR at 9-0 and Easton Drew finished ninth with a PR at 8-6.
Phillips took the top spot in the high jump, winning the event with a height of 5-10. Carter Pierce tied for second place with two other jumpers at 5-8, but was declared the runner-up due to total scratches in the competition. Alex Locklear was sixth in the at 5-6.
JT Gerrell was second in the triple jump with a jump of 41-4.50, finishing behind North Hall's Wade Haynes, who won with a mark of 42-1.50. Noel Lammers finished third at 41-0, and Zach Godfrey was 9th at 35-3.50.
Austin Garrett earned a state sectional spot with a fourth place finish in the shot put, recording a throw of 43-2 to set a PR in the event. Zay Cheek was 12th at 36-6 and Matt Turner was 15th at 32-9.
In the boy's discus, Luke Goldman was 12th with a PR of 108-00, AJ Carter was 14th at 99-11, and Turner was 18th at 94-4.
Aiden Pickett just missed qualifying for the state sectional in the 3,200-meter event, as he finished fifth with a PR time of 10:18.31. Weston Waller was 16th at 12:11.22, which was also a PR for Waller,.
Lammers tied for ninth in the long jump at 17-11.50, Kamari Brown was 12th at 17-9.75 and Jesse Lovell was 16th at 16-6.
The boy's 4x800-meter team of Pickett, Colin Fernandez, Aiden Cline and Alex Brannon was fourth with a time of 8:47.42 to earn a sectional spot, and the 4x200-meter team of Godfrey, Kamari Brown, Savion Anderson and Hayden Weakley had a time of 10:40.66 to finish sixth in the race.
The Warriors will have a handful of athletes in the running finals today, led by Gerrell who posted the top time in the 110-meter hurdles at 16.38.
Gerrell also qualified for the 300-meter hurdles final with a time of 46.07. Brannon made the finals in the 800-meter race and Fernandez will run in the 400-meter finals.