THE ONLY member of the Jefferson boys’ track team advancing to state is also one of its youngest.
With a vault of 13 feet, Dragon freshman Mason Hamrick won the region pole vault Saturday and qualified for the state meet May 5-7 hosted by Jefferson High School.
Hamrick, who was already an accomplished pole vaulter as a middle schooler, vaulted six inches higher than second-place finisher Toney Isaac from North Oconee to win the title.
Now a region champion, Hamrick has stepped in at pole vault for Jefferson following the graduation of a three-time state champion, Tyler Porter.
As for the region meet, Hamrick accounted for just over a third of Jefferson’s 29 points at the region meet. The Dragons finished seventh in the overall team standings. North Oconee won the two-day 8-AA meet with 154.5 points, barely edging Elbert County (153 points) after all events were completed Monday evening.
Jefferson finished day one at the Region 8-AA meet in fifth place with 24 points, led by Hamrick’s first-place showing in the pole vault. Others adding points were Carson Newman (third, discus, 132-04; seventh, shot put, 40-00), James Howard (pole vault, fifth, 12-00) and Kyle Kashuba (seventh, 1,600 meters, 4:58).
Dragons placing on day two (Monday) of the region meet were Josh Reid (eighth, 800 meters, 2:16.57), Kashuba (sixth, 3,200 meters, 10:55) and the 4 x 400 meter relay team (eighth, 3:40).
