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By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The LaGrange Grangers have been getting after it since the start of summer workouts in early June, and the players were able to put what they’ve accomplished to the test during the team’s ironman competition.

The players participated in a handful of different events designed to measure them in a number of areas, including speed, jumping ability, endurance, and strength.

When the final event had been contested, it was senior Kale Kibbs taking the top spot for the second consecutive year, while fellow senior AJ Traylor finished second

There was a separate competition for players that weighed more than 220 pounds, and defensive lineman Thad Dixon was tops among those group.

“It was super-competitive,” said Matt Napier, LaGrange’s first-year head coach. “The kids did awesome. In that ironman competition, you don’t want to leave anybody out that’s worked and is committed, so we have that Iron Hog in there. It’s the big guys that aren’t necessarily as talented in the speed areas. They get an opportunity to be a part of something, so a lot of kids got acknowledged for their work over the summer.”

What teams were able to do this summer was extremely limited because of Covid-19, so Napier was glad to see the players put to the test during the ironman event.

“You find out about kids during competition, and the kids competed at a high level, and I was really proud of that,” Napier said.

LaGrange is putting the finishing touches on its preparation for Friday’s season opener at Upson-Lee.

LaGrange held an intra-squad scrimmage on Aug. 21, and Napier felt that was a valuable experience for the players as they went through what a game week will be like during the season.

“The kids know what to expect, know what things are going to be like,” Napier said. “It was a trial run for us, a trial run to go through pre-game warmups, as our team and our staff has never done that before. We got the opportunity to go through that, go through Sunday meetings, and just film study, and learning, and being coached. So it was great for us to get that opportunity. It’s what we would have done if we’d scrimmaged an opponent, so we treated it similarly. We treated it just like a game.”

After the scrimmage, Napier said “we treated that second week like a normal off week within the season. The kids kind of could get the rhythm of how our season’s going to go, how I do things, how I schedule things, and how our plans are going to be. We can communicate really well and have everything planned out and organized really well.”

IRONMAN RESULTS

1 – Kale Gibbs

2 – AJ Traylor

3 – Asa Leath

4 – Parker Shattuck

5 – Monta Martin

6 – Javon Brown

7 – Isaiah Jordan

8 – Theo Taylor

9 – Christian Ceja

10 – Kobe Jones

IRONHOG RESULTS

1 – Thad Dixon

2 – Ka’various Perry

3 – David Paredes

4 – Lataurus Swindle

5 – Ni Gunsby

6 – Elijah Quimbayo

7 – Towson Partin

8 – Jayden White

9 – Brandon Wortham

10 – Quay Thornton