The Bulloch Academy Gators host the GIAA district 2 region meet Wednesday at the Georgia Southern University track. A successful day saw the girls claim their 17th region title, while the Gator boys placed second.
“Coming into this morning I was a little scared,” said coach Barbara Conner, “We really haven’t been challenged this year and I knew that would change today. We had a couple things go against us and a couple for us during field events. Westminster is really good at the long-distance events and our best distant runner was out. The girls really responded today and I am so proud of them.”
The Lady Gators battled with Westminster down to the wire but pulled off an impressive victory in the last event of the day as they won the 4x400 relay after trailing through the first two laps before Adylee Davis made up ground with a great leg and an injured Ava Burns held off Westminster and collapsed after crossing the finishing line.
“Ava has a stress fracture and the doctor told her she could only run in one event and she chose the 4x400,” Conner said. “Adylee did an awesome job of making up the ground and got us in it and then Ava made the most of her one race as she just ran past the girl from Westminster and got us the victory with a gutsy performance.”
Adding to the Gators victory was junior Adylee Davis who earned 33 1/3 points and was the high point winner.
“Adylee did what we knew she could do in the high jump where she has the school record,” Conner said. “Where she really impressed us was winning the triple jump and the 300 hurdles as well as how she did in the relay.”
The Lady Gators had nine first place finishers and qualified for state in 17 events. First place finishers included Adylee Davis in the high jump, triple jump and 300 hurdles. Caroline Deal in the long jump, Claire Coulter in pole vault, Diana Mbakwe in the 100 dash, Ivy Hightower in the 100 hurdles. The 4x100 relay team of Brantley Claxton, Caroline Deal, Johnnie Nutting, Diana Mbakwe and the 4x400 relay team with Brantley Claxton, Caroline Deal, Adylee Davis and Ava Burns.
For the Gator boys. Conner Perry led the way, placing third in the high point running. Coach Ronnie Hodges had bad news going into Wednesday as he lost three runners with injuries and then had a pair of runners unable to go due to injuries Wednesday.
“We have a very young team with no seniors,” Hodges said. “The news just went from bad to worse today but I am still proud of our guys for not giving up. We had a few first-place finishers and a handful who qualified for the state so we will just learn from this and keep moving forward.”
The state meet with be held April 30 - May 2 at Strong Rock Christian in Locust Grove.
