The Trojans' Witt Nix battled heavily-favored Austin Sprague of St. Pius all the way to the final straightaway before eventually falling six seconds short to finish second in the Class AAA race at Jefferson Memorial Stadium.
While Nix came into the race on the heels of winning the sectionals race, Sprague owned the best time in Class AAA by nearly 30 seconds over the field.
North Hall runners had won the last four 3,200-meter races at the state meet.
Nix's finish pushed North Hall into second place in the team standings with 24 points, but well behind St. Pius, which leads Class AAA with 69 points.
Meanwhile, Commerce's Nahumn Mendozza finished third in the Class A public 3,200 race, completing the event in 11:12.75. And in Class AAAAA, Flowery Branch's James Slavik just missed out on a medal, taking ninth (9:45.26).
Friday also saw qualifying for Saturday's sprint event finals, and a number of area athletes raced their way into medal contention -- including Chestatee's Brandon Thompson.
Last year's Class AAA 100 meter runner-up posted the fastest qualifying time in Friday's Class AAAA 100 preliminaries, crossing the finish line in 11.05 seconds.
Thompson will look to knock off Mary Persons' Nick Davis, who qualified in 11.06 and who ran a 10.63 in the Region 2-AAAA championships on April 18. LaGrange's Demoton Boyd and Carrollton's Trent Terrell will also be among the favorites on Saturday.
Other Saturday qualifiers included Buford's 4x100 relay team, Quinn Davis (200 and 400 meters) and Justin McCray (300 hurdles). Commerce also qualified its 4x100 team, along with Dekerrio Ramsey (400) and Terrick Ramsey (100), while Jefferson's 4x400 relay will race on Saturday.
Rabun County's Charlie Woerner (110 hurdles) and Riverside Military Academy's Adrian Humphrey (300 hurdles) also earned spots in the finals.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2013/5/261206