Sports
North Oconee Leads Locals at State Track Meet
Seniors Wraga and Hurt score the bulk of the Titans' points.
turned in a strong showing on Saturday to lead the local teams at the state track meet.
The Titans collected 51 points, but had to settle for a state runnerup in Class AA behind Elbert County’s 57 points at the 40th annual Georgia Olympics at Jefferson’s Memorial Stadium. came in seventh in Class A, and tied for 18th.
The meet started on Thursday with field and distance events, continued on Friday with qualifying, and finished on Saturday.
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North Oconee seniors Ian Wraga and Tripp Hurt did most of the heavy lifting.
Wraga and Hurt scored 36 points together in individual events, then collected six more as half of the 1,600 relay team that set a school record time of 3:22.
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“They ran their hearts out,” North Oconee coach Kali Bennett said. “We can’t ask them to do anymore than they did.”
For the Titans to win the state title, they needed to win the 1,600 relay and have Elbert come in last. But they finished third and Elbert was fifth out of eight.
“If we had a shot to win, we really needed to win that race,” Hurt said. “Going into the fourth leg, it was Putnam (County) dominating, and us in front of Lovett. But I knew the kid from Lovett was going to run me down. If (Putnam) hadn’t have had such a big lead going into the last lap, it would have been a great race.”
Hurt collected championships in the mile (4:20.58), his second straight, and two mile (9:47.92), and Wraga finished second in the mile (4:22.57) and 800 (1:56.27). All told, they amassed 36 points together.
Other state medalists wearing the red and gold were , a runnerup in the pole vault at 12-6, which matched a personal best, and Alex Noakes was eighth in the discus with a throw of 132-4.
Athens Academy’s B.J. Speaks came in third in the 400 in 50.66, and was second in the triple jump at 45-1. Henry Dwyer was third in the 800 in 1:57.20, second in the mile in 4:19.82.
Oconee County finished in a three-way tie for 18th with 10 points. The Warriors’ 1,600 relay team finished third with a time of 3:20.86. Those runners were Taylor Cielaszyk, Matt Gehr, Collin Ankerich and Wake Roberts. Ankerich also was fifth in the pole vault at 13 feet.