JACKSON County sophomore Victoria Fontana accounted for a quarter of the Lady Panthers’ points at the recent region meet with a first-place finish in the 8-AA girls’ high jump.
Fontana jumped a 5-2 in the finals, winning the event by four inches. She’ll represent Jackson County at the state meet in Albany May 12-14.
Brittany Aikens also had a high finish for Jackson County, placing third in the 3,200 meters (12:24). She added a fifth-place finish in the 1,600 meters (5:40.60).
Jackson County finished sixth overall in Region 8-AA with 40 points, just 4.5 points shy of fifth-place Oglethorpe County.
Others providing points were Emily Elrod (sixth, 100 meters, 13.80 seconds; seventh, 200 meters, 28.48 seconds), Mariah Spry (eighth, 100 meters, 13.94 seconds), Kayley Tanner (fourth, 300-meter hurdles, 52.45 seconds), Michayla Scallon (eighth, 3,200 meters, 14:00.58) and the 4 x 100 meter relay team (Fontana, Spry, Rachel Smith and Elrod), which finished sixth with a time of 53.06 seconds.
“Our goal was to get fourth or fifth in the beginning,” coach Crystal Colley said of the region meet. “We were pretty close to that, and we need to be a little more strong on placing in the field events. Today (Monday) we were hoping we could get a few more closer places in the running events. But we were satisfied with who all made it to the finals, so we’re proud as a team. Compared to last year, it was a big improvement.”
North Oconee won the region with 154 points. Hart County was second with 108.
