The 52nd Queen City Relays are Saturday at Myers Park High School. There look to be teams from North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Ohio. Some of the states top teams will be competing and looking to set new meet records.
Boys Meet Records | Girls Meet Records
If you are in the Charlotte area and need your fix of track and field, plan on heading over to Myers Park for what should be an outstanding meet.
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Boys Meet Preview
The actual relay events at the Queen City Relays should be a lot of fun to watch. Some of the finest relay teams the state has seen in some time will be competing against one another, so look for some very fast times. A lot will depend on who (individuals) run which even for their teams, but plan on some exciting races.
4x100m Relay: Last week at the Phoenix High School Classic Butler looked to be running away with the win after 2 very strong legs by Jeremy Johnson and Spencer Adams. However, Chris Herring of Knightdale brought them back on the anchor to win in 42.26. This battle will be on again, but now throw in West Charlotte and Dorman(SC). Dorman was the top team in SC last year with a time of 41.87.
4x200m Relay: New Bern is the favorite here as they are coming off a 2nd place finish at Nike Indoor Nationals in this event. Again, Knightdale will be tough and so will West Charlotte. House and Grier for West Charlotte have both run under 22 seconds indoors this year. The SC teams don't typically run the 4x200, so not sure what to expect here.
4x400m Relay: With New Bern sitting this one out (ranked 6th in the US), Knightdale is once again the favorite. They ran a very impressive 3:19.4 last week at Elon which ranks them 14th in the US. West Charlotte should be close behind them should they run their top team.
4x800m Relay: New Bern just won the 4x800 at the Nike Indoor Championships with a time of 7:58. They have run faster than that already this year indoors, and will hopefully be looking to crack 7:50 on Saturday. East Forsyth could be in contention for the win, should they keep it close. Dylan Ferris is rumored to have split 1:49 up in New York at the Armory on the SMR team, so we'll see what happens. Also look for Green Hope to be up there.
Sprint Medley Relay: I may sound like I'm repeating myself, but New Bern is coming off a NIN national title in this event. Mile Sparks, Fuquawn Green, along with Anthony and Andrew Hendrix make up quite a team - not sure if anyone in NC can touch them. Knightdale ran well at NIN, too and will look for a possible sub 3:30. West Charlotte and Green Hope should be in the mix with their talent, too.
Distance Medley Relay: Mooresville is going for a big time in this event. They are not the top seed, but look for them to run very fast with Joseph Newman on the 1200 and Patrick Campbell on the 1600. I would expect the meet record to fall in this event. East Forsyth should be very strong as well, especially if Ferris anchors on the 1600. Could we see a Campbell/Ferris dual like at Virginia Tech during indoors? Oak Ridge (TN) and Green Hope have very strong distance programs and will also be pushing for Nike Outdoor qualifying times.
There are a few open events at the Queen City Relays as well. In each of the events, there will be plenty of talent.
300m Hurdles: Spencer Adams headlines this field and should run away with the title. As Spencer told me last week at Elon, he is trying to get in "outdoor shape" now. He ran a solid 39 second race last week in strong wind gusts, so hopefully we can see something even faster this week. Spencer was ranked in the top 5 nationally last year in this event.
100m Dash: Leading the way is Dorman's Marcus Rowland. Marcus ran a blistering 10.56 last year and will look to regain that form on Saturday. His competition should come from Fuquawn Green of New Bern who is coming off a national title in the 200m at Nike Indoor Nationals.
3200m Run: Green Hope's Doug Black and Bryan Spreitzer are running well right now and could go 1, 2 in the event. Both ran well at the 4A indoor championships and both were members of Green Hope's 3rd place 4xmile team at NIN. Look for them to push the pace after the mile.
We can't forget about the field events, as there are some very talented athletes here as well. Look for some of NC's top performances on the season to come from these events on Saturday.
Shot Put: Jake Deaton of Mooresville is one of the state's best, proven by his 1A/2A/3A indoor state title. The 4A indoor title was won by Giovanni Scott of Ardrey Kell and he will be in competing as well. Should be fun having the two indoor champs going head to head. Look for something over 55' to win.
Discus: Jake Deaton is once again the favorite here. He has thrown 154 so far this season which ranks 3rd in North Carolina. He will look to improve upon that and try to go beyond 160' for the first time in his career.
Long Jump: Austin Lewis of Mallard Creek leads the way with a jump of 23-06.50. Austin is well beyond his nearest competitor, but look for Demontez Jones of Spartanburg (SC) and Carver's McKinley Morning to give him competition. Also, Jamel Allison of Mooresville is a consistent 22' jumper.
Triple Jump: Jamel Allison leads the way here with a mark in the 46' range. Craig Williams, formerly of North Meck, now competiting for Mallard Creek has stretched out near 45' and should prove to be a good opponent for Allison.
High Jump: The boys high jump has two 6'6" jumpers in Dusty Kenealy of Rockingham County and Zycorrian Robinson of Spartanburg (SC). Look for these to soar, but there are also 5 other athletes entered at 6'4". Chalk this one up as an event that about 10 athletes could win.
Pole Vault: Terry Squibbs comes in with a 14-6 vault as well as Tommy Marks of Huber Heights (OH). Josh Brunelle of Green Hope has also cleared 14-6 but is entered at 14'. This competition should be fun as 8 athletes are entered at 14'-14'6". Logan Shearer just won the Phoenix Invite last week in gusty conditions. This is anyone's event as well.
Girls Meet Preview
These relays are going to be a lot of fun. Look for some quality times run here, especially in the 4x100, 4x200, and Distance Medley. Like the boys, a lot depends on who is running in each event. Looking forward to these race.
4x100m Relay: West Charlotte's girls should be the favorite here as they have very talented sprinters, headlined by Nyosha Bryant. Spartanburg(SC) was ranked #1 in SC last year and should still be very tough. Also, Rock Hill(SC) is in the race and they were ranked 5th in SC in '07.
4x200m Relay: Mark West Charlotte as the favorite here as they are coming off a 2nd place finish at the National Indoor meet in New York. Other teams to watch out for are Parkland, Vance, and Berkeley(SC).
4x400m Relay: Berkeley won the SC state title last year in 4:00. I don't know what they return but expect them to be tough once again. Also, Myers Park's girls are coming off a 4A state indoor title and will be trying to impress the home fans. Mount Tabor and Parkland also have the talent to compete for the title.
4x800m Relay: Should Sun Valley run their "A" team, this could prove to be a great race. Sun Valley was the fastest team in NC last year and Myers Park ran 9:53 indoors for 2nd at the 4A state indoor meet. Providence's girls hold the meet record and should also be ones to watch as they are consistently fast in this event.
Sprint Medley Relay: West Charlotte is very talented as is Vance in the sprinting events, but the question lies at the 800m. Huber Heights out of Ohio may be the team to watch as they are the biggest unknown.
Distance Medley Relay: Green Hope's girls are running well, led by Olivia Enright, a 9th grader. Mount Tabor is also led by a freshman, Margaret Leak. It could be an exciting finish with 2 9th graders battling for the victory. However, also in the race is Myers Park. Should they put their "A" team together, I would say they are the favorites. They have the talent in each of the legs to win this race. The unknown again is Huber Heights of Ohio.
300m Hurdles: Tysha Smith of Spartanburg(SC) has run 1:03.86 in the 400mH, so she will be stepping down to run the 300mH. Jasmine Guy of West Charlotte has a PR of 49 seconds, but has been running much better this year. Her 25 sec. 200 speed should be able to put her closer to 45/46 seconds. The top entered athlete is Sophia Jones of Rock Hill(SC). Look for a tight battle here.
100m Dash: Dominique Weathers of Vance had an excellent indoor season, running very well in the 60m dash. Will that translate to a solid 100m? Even though she is entered with the top time, the favorite here is Nyosha Bryant of West Charlotte. Nyosha ran 11.88 last weekend at the 49er Classic and looks very strong.
3200m Run: This race could be a lot of fun. Allison Hofmann has the fastest time here with a PR of 11:21, but will she run the DMR and 4x800? This could be a very tough day. Olivia Enright of Green Hope is running well, but hasn't stepped into a tough 3200m field yet. Janelle Avery of Huber Heights has run 5:17 in the 1600, so she has the talent to run around 11:30. Also, Melanie Kulesz of Oak Ridge(TN) has rn 11:35 and 5:12. Look for the winner to dip under 11:30. I'm going to guess it is an out of state athlete, but I'd love to be proven incorrect!
Aslynn Halvorson leads the way in the throws and there should be an entertaining team battle in the long and triple jump.
Shot Put & Discus: Aslynn Halvorson of Butler leads the way here as she always does in meets held in North Carolina. Aslynn is easily the best shot put and discus thrower in NC. Challenging her will be Patria Norman, as she has thrown 39' in the shot put. Aslynn is the only girl over 40' feet, however.
Long Jump & Long Jump: These horizontal jumps look to be a head to head competition between Parkland and Spartanburg (SC). Both teams have 2 girls at the top of each event. Spartanburg has Sequoya Casey and Erica Peake, while Parkland has Jessica and Nadia Morgan. There are others, but these girls should have great days in the sand.
High Jump: This is anyone's event as no one really stands out. There are 7 girls with jumps from 5'-5'2". Tanisha Ellis of Mooresville, only a 9th grader, and Quisha Varner of RJ Reynolds lead the way with entries of 5'2".
Pole Vault: Taylor Cook of Watauga and Karen Kazaglis of Green Hope were both at the top of the 4A indoor results. It was a fun battle to watch indoors. Now add in Michelle Eby of Huber Heights who has cleared 10' 4" and you should have a great event.