GREENE COUNTY
Last week, Lake Oconee Academy was awarded the Female Directors Cup, and the overall Directors Cup was presented by the Georgia Athletic Directors Association (GADA).
Titans’ athletic director Chris Ingle told the Lake Oconee News that it’s a great honor to be recognized for this award.
“It’s the top award for any athletic program in the state, and it really shows how much we’ve grown as an entire program and how each team contributed,” Ingle said. “Softball got their first playoff win, baseball had their first playoff win, and then we had three state champions and several final-four and runner-up appearances with other programs. Almost every sport was able to contribute towards the award and if they didn’t, they got better from the year before.”
Director Cup results stem from how each school’s athletic programs did in their respective seasons. The further a team made it in the playoffs, the more points they would earn for the Cup’s leaderboard.
For Lake Oconee Academy, multiple spring sports powered them past other Class A Division II schools like Georgia Military College and Schley County for the top spot.
The Titans were state champions in both boys’ and girls’ golf and boys’ tennis, which each earned Lake Oconee Academy 100 points toward the standings. The Lady Titans’ basketball team earned 90 for finishing as the state runner-up, and other programs, including both soccer teams, baseball and girls’ tennis also had success in the postseason.
The Titans racked up 969 total points toward earning the award, while the second-place GMC Bulldogs were close behind with 949, and the third-place Schley Wildcats finished with 812.
Beyond receiving two banners and a trophy, Ingle suggested the award will benefit the school even more due to the recognition it’s gained.
“I’ve heard from some alumni about this award, and they just can’t believe how far we’ve come in our short 10 years as a school,” Ingle said. “On top of that, we haven’t been able to represent every sport that contributes to the standings, so it was hard to put points on the leaderboard. We thank the parents, administration and the community in general for the endless support.”
This marks the first time since the school’s opening that Lake Oconee Academy has received this award, and Ingle wants to continue to push for even higher goals.
Moving forward, he said the Titans would like to add other sports programs such as wrestling and track and field to give more students the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities.