The Region 8-AA Championship meet was on a rainy Wednesday, hosted at Unicoi State Park in Helen. The local programs had great success, as the Banks County Leopards won the boys region title, and the Rabun County Lady Wildcats won as well. Buck Ledford (Banks) was the individual region champ, as was Rabun’s Molly Jo Wright.

For the boys side, Ledford paced the field with a 16:41 time, nearly a minute ahead of Union’s Luke Gambrell. Chase Stephens and Pepper Davis came in third and fourth for the boys for Banks County, and Hunter Hartzog fifth for Union. Union placed second in the region, while Rabun came in third. The Wildcats were led by Andrew Zafra’s 10th place finish.

The girls meet featured Wright winning by 23 seconds over Union’s Hana Gregory. Lucy Hood (Rabun) was third, and Janna Reeves (Banks) fourth, while Rabun’s Christina Gergeni rounded out the top five.