ALBANY — Junior Chelsea Oglesby won the Class AAA state girls’ shot put title Friday to put the Lady Gators on top of the leader board at the end of Day Two of the GISA track and field championships.
    Oglesby threw the weighted ball 33-9 ½ feet on her second throw to claim the state championship. The 10 points for her victory helped the Bulloch girls score 62 points on the day and take the team lead. At the end of the meeting, the Lady Gators had notched 66 points for first place. Deerfield-Windsor was second with 44 points and both Tattnall Square and Mount de Sales were tied for third with 40 points. Stratford Academy and The Heritage School were tied for fifth with 33 points.
    “We thought that Stratford was going to be closer but they slipped a little,” said BA head coach Barbara Conner. “They will get big points Saturday in the running events. I am hoping that Deerfield, Tattnall, Mount de Sales and Stratford will split up winning the sprints in order to keep one team from gaining too much ground on us. We are praying that we can hold the lead.” 
    Sophomore Pate Lomax was Friday’s workhorse for the BA girls, finishing third in the high jump (4-10), fourth in the 800m run (2:29.21) and sixth in the long jump (16 1½).
    “We needed her to have a big day and she performed,” said Conner. “I am tickled to death with everything that she did today.”
    The conditions weren’t ideal at Hugh Mills Stadium for the meet as a cloudy, cool morning turned into an afternoon full of moderate-to-high winds and sporadic light drizzles and heavy downpours.
    Still, the Lady Gators scored major points in the field events and the 800m run.
    Senior Anna Newton won the state runner-up spot in the high jump (5-0). Senior Marianna Peebles was third in the pole vault (8-0) and seventh in the triple jump (31-2¾). Junior Danielle Atkinson was fourth in the pole vault (7-6). Sophomore Destiny Burke was fourth in the shot put (29-10¼). Oglesby was fifth in the triple jump (31-6). Sophomore Page Spence was fifth in the discus (83-6) and classmate Ashley Burke was fifth in the 800m run (2:29.78).
    In the boys’ meet, the Gators are sitting in 11th place with 6.5 points.
    Junior Christopher Williams took sixth in the 800m run (2:07.39) and freshman Hunter Perry tied for sixth in the high jump (5-9). Senior Loy Waters placed eighth in the long jump (19-4½).
    Stratford Academy holds the Class AAA boys lead with 61 points, followed by Deerfield-Windsor (45.5), John Milledge (38), Mount de Sales (29) and the Heritage School (20). The totals are minus the results of the boys’ pole vault, which had to be halted in the mid-afternoon due to rainy conditions. The event began early Friday evening.
    Both BA squads qualified a pair of 4x400m relay teams for today’s running finals.
    For the girls, the foursome of Newton, Lomax, A. Burke and Mary Margaret Reeves posted a 4:18.80 while the team of Spence, Atkinson, Mary Peyton Freeman and Dailey Averitt turned in a 4:32.22. For the boys, the number one team of Themba Twala, Forrest Spence, Daniel Hendrix and Harrison Averitt clocked a 3:27.58 to qualify while the team of Williams, Waters, Matt Sheppard and Bailey Smith got in with a time of 3:36.91.
    Other female races will feature Newton in the 200m dash and the 400m dash, Burke and sophomore Heather Jacobs in the 3200m run, Spence in the 300m hurdles, Reeves in the 400m dash and the 4x100m relay team of Oglesby, Newton, Lomax and Reeves.
“We’ve got to have both Ashley and Heather score points in the 3200,” said Conner. “I am so proud that our number two 4x4 relay team qualified. No other school has two teams in the 4x4. It made a good cap on a great day.”
    The BA boys will have Spence in the 110m hurdles and the 300m hurdles, Averitt in the 400m dash and the 4x1 team of Waters, Twala, Sheppard and Averitt.
    In Class A girls, Robert Toombs Christian Academy has scored an overwhelming 91 points to take a sizeable lead over Thomas Jefferson (40) and Randolph-Southern (35). The TJA boys (68) hold the lead over The Cottage School (43) and Robert Toombs (36). In Class AA girls, Gatewood is in first (65), followed by Brentwood (51) and Westwood (42). For the boys, Trinity Christian School of Dublin (67) has a slim lead over Brentwood (65.75) and Westwood (54).