DALTON — Ware County’s Kira Brown punched her ticket to the Class 4A state Traditional tournament with a runnerup finish here Friday at Coahulla Creek High School in the Girls Section A event.
Brown, who captured the 190-pound weight division crown in the Area 1 Sectional A Traditional tournament Tuesday, February 3 at Houston County High School, was was the lone Lady Gator to advance.
She heads to the two-day state tournament Friday, February 13 and Saturday, February 14 at the Clayton County Convocation Center in Morrow.
Brown won her first two matches in the February 6 event with grapplers representing 44 schools trying to finish in the top four spots for state berths.
She pinned Cedartown’s Eliza Saunder at the 2:31 mark in her quarterfinal match. Brown followed with a pin (1:56) of Lafayette’s Emily Moreno in the semifinals. She lost a heartbreaking 5-4 decision to Camden County’s Gabriel Daniels in the championship.
Brown posted a 3-0 mark winning each match via pin with a total mat time of 4:41 in the Area 1 Sectional. She captured her first match at 2:28, the semifinal pairing in 47 seconds and the championship match at 1:26.
Brown was one of five Lady Gators who participated in the Sectional A Traditional tournament at Houston County against representatives from 29 schools. The Lady Gators placed 15th in the field.
Only the top four finishers in each weight class advanced for the Sectional Tournament on Friday, February 5, 2026 at Coahulla Creek High School in Dalton.
Camden County, the state champion in one of two Dual finals, won the Area 1 title with 182.5 points edging out runner-up Long County (158.5). The Lady Blue Tide were followed in the Top 10 by Colquitt County (131), Richmond Hill (130), Lee County (129.5), host Houston County (119), Thomas County Central (89), Veterans (81), Tift County (80) and Northside (78).
Finishing 11-20 were Jenkins of Savannah (70), Warner Robins (62), Brantley County (58), South Effingham (57), Ware County (54.5), Perry (50), Vidalia (48), Bryan County (34), Coffee (30) and ECI (29).
The rest of the field included Toombs County (27), Lowndes (21.5), Windsor Forest (14), Johnson-Savannah (12), Effingham County (7), Glynn Academy (7), Brunswick (6) and Bacon County (2).
Not scoring were Islands of Savannah, McIntosh County Academy, Montgomery County, New Hampstead, Swainsboro and Wayne County.
Joining Brown at the Area 1 Sectional were Nadya Ellis (115 lbs.), Natalie Scheuing (120), Emmelee Haddock (130) and Hannah Miller (170).
• Ellis competed in a team-high six matches going 4-2 to finish fifth. She opened with a 13-10 decision before falling 1714 in a Tiebreaker 1 (two 30-sec. periods) following a two-minute sudden victory period.
Ellis bounced back through the loser’s bracket capturing a 17-1 technical fall and a pin (1:41). She lost via pin (35 sec.) in the consolation semis before responding with a pin (59 sec.) in the fifth-place match.
• Scheuing split her four matches alternating wins and losses. She posted a 12-5 decision, lost by pin (3:42), won via pin (2:47) and lost by pin (1:12).
• Haddock finished 02 losing both matches via pin (3:27, 51 sec.).
• Miller finished 1-2 with an opening pin win in nine seconds. She lost her next two matches by pin (46 sec., 2:09).
