The Gilmer Lady Cats have successfully completed the first stage of the state wrestling qualifying process.
GHS traveled to Lumpkin County last Saturday for the Area 6-3A duals and posted a 1-1 record to continue its season. The Cats took on Central Carroll first at the three-team event and secured a 54-30 victory.
Because Gilmer was still nursing injuries, head coach Stacy Galloway decided to forfeit the area championship match versus Lumpkin County.
“With the Central Carroll win, which advanced us to the top 16, we made the decision to forfeit our dual with Lumpkin,” Galloway said. “Right now, we have nine wrestlers dealing with some sort of injury — nothing severe — but they are not at 100 percent.
“With Lumpkin being the top team in the state, we felt it was best to protect our wrestlers and not risk aggravating those injuries, which could derail our goals for state duals. We had already scouted out the potential teams for the state prelims, so we felt like this was the smartest decision moving forward.”
Central jumped to a 24-0 lead with three pins and a forfeit before the Cats charged back. Allison Hernandez secured a pin, and Erica Velasquez duplicated that feat. Another CCHS pin put GHS behind, 30-12. However, the Cats won the remaining matches by either pin or forfeit.
GHS winners included Abelinda Tercero, Gladys Lopez, LucyAnn McArthur, Andrea Puac, Jamie Sebastian, Juana Tercero and Erika Tercero.
Gilmer will take on Area 3 champions Putnam County later this week, and that date had yet to be determined by press deadline.
A victory will qualify the Lady Cats for the Class 3A state duals Jan. 24 at Lumpkin County High School.