It was a great day at the 4A state championships. There were a lot of incredible performances as North Carolina's 4A classification is full of some of the nation's best.
One of the most spectacular events was the boy's 55m hurdles. NC continues to shine in this event and this year is no exception. Wayne Davis, Spencer Adams, and Keare Smith finished 1st, 2nd, & 3rd in the event, SO WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? They are currently ranked #1, #2, & #3 in the United States!
The boy's competition was close all day, and in the end there were two teams tied for the state title. East Forsyth and New Bern seemed to be at different ends of the emotional highway when it was all over, but both performed well and deserve the top honors. New Bern was DQ'd in the final event of the day, as there was a trip up in one of the turns and officials felt it was caused by the New Bern athlete. None the less, it was a great day for both teams, a state title is a state title!
On the girls' side the top 3 teams were separated by 6 points. SE Raleigh stepped up and scored 47 points, 3 in front of West Charlotte, to bring home the state title. Myers Park performed very well and scored 41 points, without any field events.
Dylan Ferris, boy's meet MVP, won the 1000 (#3 in US) and the 1600. He also helped his team finish 2nd in the 4x800.
Photo by Mark Keenen
Ladies Recap
As predicted, Aslynn Halvorson won easily in the shot put. However, Halvorson was able to throw the shot out to a new personal best as well as taking home her first state title. Halvorson's toss moves her to 9th overall in the US. Second place was Jessica Sanders of Ashbrook with a throw of 37-10. SE Raleigh gained 4 crucial points from Ebony Scott's toss as she finished 5th.
The girl's long jump was a tight competition as the top 2 girls were only 1.25 inches away from one another. Jacinda Evans of Southern Durham, the favorite, won the event with a leap of 19-01.25. Following her very closely was Nyosha Bryant of West Charlotte. I hadn't seen Nyosha jump yet this year, but in order for West Charlotte to try and win a state title, she took part and obviously did quite well. Jacinda is ranked 3rd in the US and Nyosha's jump moves her to 5th in the country. Scotland County's Ashlynn Chavis also jumped well, leaping out to 18-06, and moving her 14th in the US. Finally, the 4th place finisher also had a solid day. Chrishawn Williams of SE Raleigh jumped 18-02 and picked up 5 points her team. Williams' jump ranks her 22nd in the US. Great jumps for the 4A girls.
Chrishawn Williams won her 2nd straight indoor triple jump state title, as she outdistanced the rest of the competition. Chrishawn's mark of 37-05.75 was a little over 3 inches better than 2nd place, Jazie Daniels of Page. These two ladies are now ranked 28th and 33rd in the US.
The girl's high jump was a very tight competition, as it looked to be anyone's to win. The to 6 girls were separated by a mere 2 inches. The top 3 girls all cleared by 5-02, but Shamika McRae of Pinecrest was able to take the victory due to misses. Leesville Road's Alane Ficalora took home 2nd while Johnique Fonville of New Bern was 3rd.
Three girls cleared 10-06 in the pole vault, and like the high jump the event was one on misses. Tori Rivers of Clayton won, with Meredith Wilson of AC Reynolds and Karen Kazaglis of Green Hope in 2nd and 3rd. It was a great event as once Tori cleared 10-06, Meredith and Karen both did the same. That's how to step up to your competition.
In the girl's 55m hurdles, all 8 qualifiers broke 9 seconds. They were led by Ashley Bethune of Harding with her 8.19 in the prelims. In the finals, Ashley bettered her time and won the state title. She ran 8.10 which now ranks her 6th in the US. Knightdale's JaQuanda Wright finished 2nd with a time of 8.46 and Dannielle Davis of SE Raleigh took 3rd in 8.68.
The prelims of the 55m dash was fast as 3 girls ran 7.13 or better. Nyosha Bryant, who was ranked 4th in the US coming in to the meet, led the way in the prelims with her 7.00. Vance's Dominique Weathers who came in with a PR of 7.22 ran exceptionally well in the prelims and finals, clocking a 7.09 and then a 7.06. She is now ranked 13th in the US. Her 7.06 earned her 2nd place, as Nyosha Bryant broke 7 seconds for the first time to win the state title. Bryant ran 6.94, #3 in the US, and looked very strong doing so. Sirrell Butler of Ben L Smith took third overall with a time of 7.19, ranked 34th nationally.
Earlier in the day, Jacksonville set an All-Time indoor state meet record running 9:52.25. However, Cary took that record in the evening, running 9:51.50. There time set a new 4A meet record and a new All-Class Record. They held off a tough Myers Park team who ran 9:53.74.
Andie Cozzarelli of Apex waited until the end of the 1600 to take over the race. She ran a solid time of 5:10.21 to defeat Kimberly Spano of North Meck and 9th grader, Margaret Leak of Mount Tabor. Spano led most of the race with Leak sitting in 2nd and Cozzarelli waiting patiently in 3rd. The 3 were timed in 5:10, 5:13, and 5:15. However, Spano's 5:13 and 2nd place, was thrown out as she was DQ'd for a uniform violation - her singlet said "cross country" and that is a violation.
The 500m was won by Mallard Creek's Lauren Gulley in an impressive time of 1:17.33. Lauren took over the race and won handily. Her time is the 6th fastest in state history and moves her to 14th in the US. Becca DeLoache of Myers Park took 2nd with a time of 1:19.08, while winning the 3rd heat of 4.
The girl's 1000m wasn't as fast as it could have been with all the talent that was in the race, as it turned out to be a tactical race. It came down to a pretty quick last few hundred meters with Maraya Slatter of West Johnston edging Amanda Lapp of SE Raleigh, 3:09.07 to 3:09.33.
The 300m race was a close one as Nyosha Bryant won her 2nd event, but by a slim margin. Dominque Weathers continued her solid day as she finished 2nd. Bryant won in 41.23 with Weathers running 41.44. Also, close on their heels was Jordan's Zakiya Tyson who ran 41.53. The top 6 girls finished within 1 second of one another which made it exciting to watch.
Andie Cozzarelli of Apex led the entire way in the girls' 3200m run. It was a great race between Cozzarelli and Pinecrest's Lauren Bishop and Lexie Schustrom. The Pinecrest girls simply sat on Andie and tried to steal the show, but Andie's kick won it again for her. In the last 200m she pulled away, winning in 11:23.53. Bishop was 2nd in 11:28.11 and Schustrom was 3rd in 11:32.28.
The girl's 4x400 was an excited event. Ben L. Smith won the fastest section in a great race between them and West Charlotte. Ben L. Smith ran 4:12.55 and West Charlotte ran 4:12.66. When the results were posted, another team from another section actually found themselves celebrating loudly. Myers Park's girls had run 4:11.91 to win the previous section and when the final section was concluded, they realized they had won the 4x400 state title. It was a fitting ending to the end of the day for Myers Park as they finished 3rd overall in the team competition.
Boys Recap
We knew the team competition was going to be close, but how about a tie for the state title?
Ardrey Kell's Giavonni Scott won the boy's shot put with a throw of 50-11.25. He had the top toss coming into the competition and proved he could hold up to the pressure. NW Guilford's Jared Stalling also threw over 50', placing 2nd in 50-03.50.
The boy's long jump was everything it could have been. The competition was won by Mike Price of new Bern in his best jump of the year, 23-07.25. Right behind him with a jump of 23-06.50 was Mallard Creek's Austin Lewis, over a foot better than his previous best. Price's jump ranks him 3rd in the US, while Lewis is now ranked 4th in the country. Very impressive! The 3rd place finisher is a familiar name to NC track and field, but not in this event. Wayne Davis of SE Raleigh jumped 23-00.50, good enough for 13th in the US. Lincoln Carr of Pine Forest jumped 22-11.50 for 4th and US #17. Finally, one other jumper leaped into the US top 25, Mike Pope of Weddington reached 22-10, good for 22nd in the US. In order to have scored in the 4A competition, you had to jump 22' for better!
Lincoln Carr won the triple jump with the US #10 mark of 48-06. He was heads above the rest, as 2nd place was almost three feet back. JH Rose's Marcus Grindle improved upon his seed mark by 2 feet to finish #2 with a mark of 45-10.50.
Cary's Mike Graham was the favorite heading into the boy's high jump and came out on top. Graham was the only athlete in the competition to clear 6-04. Harding's Corbin Paulding and SE Raleigh's Steven Bell both cleared 6-02, but Paulding took 2nd on misses.
The final event was one for the record books. Fifteen athletes took part in the event, but the event winner didn't even enter the competition until everyone else was out. Steven Hodapp, who had just won the Eastern HS Challenge, continued to vault well and took 2nd overall with a clearance of 14-00. Green Hope's Josh Brunelle also cleared 14-00 for 3rd place. However, the evening was owned by NW Guilford's Scott Houston. Scott is the #3 ranked vaulter in the US right now with a personal best of 16-10. Scott's first height wa 15-00 which he cleared with ease. He worked his way up to 16-6, getting the entire facility involved in each attempt. When he soared over the bar for his 16-6 clearance the entire building shook as it went crazy. It was a very cool moment. He took a couple solid attempts at 17-00, but came up just short. Scott is the greatest vaulter in NC history.
As I have already stated, the 55m hurdles is one of the most successful event in NC these days. NC actually has the top 4 ranked hurdlers in the US, but recently Booker Nunley was deemed inelible. Hopefully he still competes at Nike Indoors so NC can truly shine. Wayne Davis of SE Raleigh, #1 in US, won the title in 7.11, a very fast time, but not his best of the season. His best is 7.08, one hundredth off the national record. Spencer Adams of Butler looked very good as well, clocking a fine 7.24 in the finals, good for #2 in the US. The 3rd best hurdler in the US is Keare Smith, also of SE Raleigh. Yes, SE Raleigh has the #1 and #3 ranked hurdlers in the US. Wow! Keare ran 7.30 in the finals.
The 55m also featured one of the top athletes in the country. TJ Graham is currently ranked 6th in the US and was the favorite in the event. He ran 6.38 in the prelims and 6.39 in the finals, good enough for the state title. Jay M Robinson's Jason Hampton surprised some people with his 2nd place finish, in a fine time of 6.44. All 8 finalists ran 6.60 or faster which is very solid.
The boy's 4x800 was easily won by New Bern in 8:05. I'm still very interested to see what this team can do in the heat of competition. I have seen them twice now and both times they seemed to cruise to 8:06 and 8:05. They have run 7:57 already this season and I look for them to challenge the 7:50 mark at Nike Indoor's should they run it. Second place was East Forsyth with Dylan Ferris anchoring and doing just enough to get 8 points. EF edged South View 8:20.55 to 8:20.86.
Again, Dylan Ferris, doing what he needed to do to gather up important points for his team, cruised to victory in the 1600m. Dylan sat back as Nick Graw of Enloe paced the group early. With 200m to go, Ferris and Green Hope's Zak Roshdy began to separate from the field and it looked as if Ferris could be challenged. However, on the back stretch, Dylan changed gears adn opened up a gap enough to hold off Roshdy for the victory, 4:26.04 to 4:27.49. Jared Neely of North Forsyth ran a great race, cracking 4:30 for the first time, and earning a 4th place finish.
The 500m proved to be an outstanding event. Again, earning some athletes top US marks. Anthony Hendrix won with the #2 US time, hitting 1:05.24. Not far behind him was Knightdale's Chris Herring running 1:05.96, good for 8th in the US. Bobby Grier of West Charlotte also ran a great time of 1:06.36 and is now ranked 14th in the US. Finally, the 4th place finisher, Wakefield's James Robinson also ran quite well, hitting 1:06.92, good for US #23.
After watching Dylan run his first two events, I figured he would run another safe race and simply win the 1000m. Well, I was wrong! Dylan took the race out and from the first 100m everyone knew he was out for a fast time. Hitting 56 at the quarter, then 1:57 at 800, Dylan was all alone. He managed to run 2:29.03, a new state meet record, and the #3 time in the US. Alex Taylor of Providence was a good ways back, but also ran an outstanding time or 2:33.39. Alex is currently ranked #17 in the US and his time moves him to 8th in NC history.
TJ Graham, currently ranked 2nd in the US, won the 300m dash in 34.99. Graham wasn't challenged in the race as Spencer Adams finished 2nd in 35.78. The top 8 athletes ran 36.51 or faster . . . well done.
The 3200m was won by Dakota Peachee of West Johnston. Dakota is currently ranked 14th in the US with a 9:24.44 and considering he didn't run the 1600m, he was the obvious favorite. He told me he wasn't feeling very well as he had gotten sick in the last couple days, but he still managed to gut out a victory. He was able to pull away during the middle half and no one had enough to reel him back in. Doug Black of Green Hope ran a great race, hitting 9:42.79 for 2nd place. Green Hope pulled down a lot of points in te 3200m, as Bryan Spreitzer and Ryan Walling also scored points, placing 5th and 8th.
The 4x400 proved to be the deciding race on who won the state title. With New Bern being DQ'd, East Forsyth was able to tie them for the state title. West Charlotte won the 4x400 with a time of 3:29.43 and Mallard Creek finished 2nd in 3:31.04.
As you can see, there were many incredible performances in the 4A meet. It's an amazing year for NC athletes, all the red tells you, NC is representing in the national rankings!