NCHSAA 1A/2A Girls Recap
We've all gotten used to seeing strong showings from Cummings, the school that has now won all three 1A/2A indoor team titles. This year's performance by the Cavaliers was particularly impressive, though - they scored points in bunches early, with 1-2-3 finishes in the 55 Hurdles and long jump, and by the end they had over 100 points. That's way more than the 66 and 64 that they won with the last two years, and almost double the total of any of the other 5 champions that were crowned this weekend! There's no sign that the Cummings juggernaut will let up, either, as they lose 32 individual points to graduation this year, leaving them with over 70 points returning.
The Cavaliers had three legitimate contenders for MVP, and I don't envy the committee that had to choose between them. In the end it was Kenyae Majors who took home the honor after winning the long jump and taking second in the triple jump and the 55 Hurdles. It could just as easily have been Tajah Walston, though, who dominated the 55 Dash and 300 as well as running strong legs on the victorious 4x200 and 4th-place 4x400. And let's not forget about Kayla and Kelsia Moore, who between them scored 30 individual points and also contributed to the 14 relay points Cummings scored. This was truly a team effort from one of the best squads our state has ever seen, regardless of classification. It will be VERY interesting to see how Cummings stacks up against the bigger schools in the combined results tomorrow...
Did anyone do as much with as little as T.W. Andrews, though? The Red Raiders only had 3 girls in the meet, and yet they managed to score 51.5 points to finish firmly in second place. Peighton Simmons won the triple jump and finished second in the 200, Mikel Franklin took first in the high jump and also scored in the 55 and 300, and Zacora McKnight added points in the long jump, triple jump, and 300 dash.
The other big individual performance from the meet was Brittany Stanley (Mount Pleasant) taking the double win in the 1600 and 3200, holding off 1000 champion Alex Rodman (First Flight) in the first race and Kaitlyn Stone (West Stokes) in the second. Stone was the only top-ranked distance runner to attempt all three races, which is always tough.
NCHSAA 1A/2A Boys Recap
Speaking of ongoing dynasties, this is also the third straight indoor title for North Brunswick. The Scorpions got the team win through a similar approach to the one employed by Cummings: both rely heavily on field events to score points, both have great depth for 2A programs, and both were in control early and went on to convincing wins, in the case of the North Brunswick boys, it was a 64 - 38 margin of victory, powered by Jayhlen Washington's combination of 1st in the long jump, 2nd in the triple jump, and 2nd in the 55 Hurdles. The Scorpions won the 4x200, and Jathan Deberry added a 2nd-place finish in the high jump.
By contrast, the winner of the silver trophy wasn't determined until the very end. Polk County edged Forest Hills by 2 points, 38 - 36, after scoring 3 with a 6th-place finish in the 4x400. The Wolverines got a strong day from Sean Doyle, who took 3rd in the 1600 and 2nd in the 1000, and he anchored the team's winning 4x800 as well as the 4x400 that put his team on the podium.
Nobody had a better Saturday than Elliott Graves (Reidsville), the boys' Most Valuable Performer. He kicked it off with high strongest 55 Hurdles race since December, winning by a full half-second while clocking 7.44. Then he won the closest race of the meet for him, holding off several challengers to win the 55 Dash in 6.53. Finally, Graves dominated the 300 Dash, posting a time of 35.18 in a race where only one other guy even broke 37.
Other individual highlights included Magnus Herweyer (Carrboro) winning big in the shot put, Derrick Puryear (T.W. Andrews) winning the 500 in 1:06.15 to move up to NC #4, and Noah Graham (Brevard) taking the 3200 with a time of 9:46. Di'Joun Houitt (Bunker Hill) had his best performance of the winter, winning the triple jump with a 46' 7" effort. Some of the best competition (and sportsmanship) of the weekend happened in the wheelchair events, where Bryce Floyd (South Lenoir) won another Shot Put title with a throw of 13' 5" and Dylan Pinder (North Johnston) won his third 55 Dash championship by clocking 15.34, the best time of the weekend.