UK High School Invitational
Several NC high-school athletes made their way up to Kentucky to get some extra competition before the indoor season comes to an end. NC's biggest representative at the meet was Breanne Bygrave (Wakefield), who finished 2nd in the 60m Dash finals (8.58) and 6th in the long jump (17' 8.75"). Also performing in multiple events were Alycia Springs of Mallard Creek and Lauren White of Leesville Road; Alycia finished 2nd in the Shot Put (45' 8") and 10th in the Weight Throw, while Lauren ran a 7.67 in the 60m Dash Prelims and a 25.4 200m. Naomi Cartier of Asheville was NC's highest finisher in the distance events, finishing the 800m Run in 7th place with a time of 2:18.
Though we didn't have as many boys in the competition, teammates Noah Shore and Satorrius Uddyback of Asheville represented the state well with 12th place finishes in the 800m Run and the Triple Jump, respectively. Noah finished his race in 1:56, and Satorrius made a jump of 38' 9.5".
UCS Invitational
Given the convenient location of the UCS Invitational in Winston-Salem at JDL, it's no surprise that there were far more NC high-schoolers at this meet than at the UK High School Invitational. Though the UCS Invite is a college meet, we still had numerous stellar performances from our athletes...including several wins! As is usually the case, Anna Cockrell (Providence Day) was the major performer of this meet; Anna stacked up against the college kids very well, winning both the 200m and 400m Dashes in 24.08 and 55.79, respectively. The other winner on the ladies' side was Khayla Dawson of Olympic with her 47' 2.5" Shot Put throw. Some of the other key female performances came from the Pole Vault, where Amanda Barnes (Beaufort) jumped 11' 3.75" to take 3rd place, and the 600m Run, where Jazzmone Boyd (Rocky River) finished 2nd in a time of 1:37.03. Boyd also competed in the 800m run along with Pinecrest duo of Grace West and Kate Sanborn. Grace finished the 800m in 6th place (2:16) and Kate finished in 8th place (2:18).
On the boys' side of the competition there were also several notable performances. Chantz Sawyers of Greensboro Day was our boys standout, as he won the 600m Run (1:20.3) after having run a 7:13.6 60m Dash earlier in the day. Kenny Kneisel of Mount Tabor also ran well against the collegians, finishing his Mile Run in 4:12 for a 4th place finish. Off of the track Millbrook's Elijah Cole took 3rd in the Pole Vault with a jump of 15' 9", and Jordan Dale of Northwest Guilford cleared 6' 5" in the High Jump for a 6th place finish.