TRAPHEAGEN, EVANS FINISH TOP-5 IN 3200; ARCHER PLACES 10TH IN 1600

STAFF REPORT

Outside of Cass senior Stephen Smith repeating as Class 5A pole vault champion, the second day of GHSA track and field championships was all about the distance runners, as far as Bartow County was concerned.

At the same 5A meet that saw Smith defend his title, Woodland junior McKenna Trapheagen finished second in the 3200-meter run in 11 minutes, 11.65 seconds with teammate Rylee Evans, a freshman, coming in fourth with a time of 11:34.10 Friday in Carrollton.

Trapheagen and Evans placed third and sixth in the 1600-meter run the day prior, giving the pair of Wildcats two state-placer finishes apiece. Thanks in large part to their combined 22 points, the Woodland girls finished Friday with 26.5 points to sit in first place overall in 5A.

With a lead of 5.5 points over second-place Veterans and 7.5 over third-place Rome, it’s unlikely the Wildcats will be able to hold the lead through the competition’s final day. Today’s action will include the relays and the shorter distance individual races, events in which the Wildcats had no qualifiers.

Even still, the Woodland girls will certainly place high as a team. The boys, on the other hand, failed to produce any points with their lone qualifier, Jeven Reliford, unable to reach the 400-meter dash finals. Reliford finished his preliminary heat in 49.85 seconds — 0.82 seconds behind the eighth-place qualifier.

Over in Albany, Cartersville wrapped up its time at the Class 4A meet with Bill Archer finishing 10th in the 1600. The sophomore wrapped up his stellar year with a personal-best time of 4 minutes, 32.67 seconds. Canes teammate Parker Breedlove, who recently signed with the Reinhardt cross country team, wound up 15th in the 3200, finishing in just under 11 minutes.