Each month during the school year, two student-athletes (one female and one male) who represent Gainesville High School in athletic competition will be chosen as a Red Elephant Athlete of the Month, presented by JT Stratford. Each athlete will be featured on Gainesville's athletic podcast Behind the G, and will receive a customized Adidas bag so they can continue repping Big Red in style.

RED ELEPHANT ATHLETES OF THE MONTH

PRESENTED BY JT STRATFORD

AUGUST

Layanna Promise and Dwayne Carter

Junior Layanna Promise is the leadoff hitter and starting catcher for Gainesville softball; the latter a position she started playing at the varsity level just two weeks ago. Over nine games played in August, Promise has not only not committed a single error in the field, but led the team to four wins, including three straight in the month's final full week, by being tops offensively in appearances at the plate (23), batting average (.579), on-base percentage (.652), and stolen bases (14)

Senior kicker Dwayne Carter made his debut for Red Elephant football against Buford and was perfect in the showing. Carter led the team in scoring by hitting on both field goals attempted (35 and 25 yards), and his lone extra-point attempt.

SEPTEMBER

Isabel Lee and Leo Herrera

Gainesville cross country will definitely remember the month of September thanks in part to the efforts of sophomore Isabel Lee and freshman Leo Herrera.

In four meets over the month, Lee and Herrera shined both individually and in helping their teams' successes.

After a third-place finish to start the month of competition in the Cookies 'N Quotes Festival at Tallulah Falls, Lee took individual titles in the next two meets finishing first out of 95 runners at the North Oconee Titans Invitational before doing the same the next weekend, albeit out of 96 runners, at the Rangers XC Invitational in Cumming. Lee wrapped her September up by running a personal record time(19:12.60) in the Hall County Championships and taking third place, a significant improvement from her sixth-place finish in the same meet in 2025.

Herrera finished no lower than third in three of the four meets; taking second out of 175 runners in the meet at Tallulah Falls before helping his team to wins in the Rangers XC Invitational and the Hall County Championships with second- and third-place individual finishes.