Boys NCHSAA 1A State Meet Recap
In some ways, Tyquien Fain (Perquimans) was the star of the entire weekend, even though he competed by himself in three of his four events. In a state where adaptive participation continues to grow and the level of inclusion is increasingly seen as a model for other states, Fain set a new standard in the wheelchair events. He won 4 individual golds, setting the top mark of the weekend (and state meet records) in all of them: 23' 4" in the shot put, 18.98 in the 100, 1:19.61 in the 400, and 36.29 in the 200.
Jermaine Smith (South Creek) pulled of the double win in the hurdles, but by a relatively thin margin. He ran 15.04 in the 110 to win by 0.14, then slipped past Enoch Chung (Raleigh Charter) over the last hurdle of the 300 for the second title. The only other athlete to take home two individual gold medals was Mount Airy's Gabriel King (pictured above), who put the shot 51' 4.25" to win by 2.5 inches after dominating the discus with a 156' 1" throw.
As was the case for the 1A girls, every boys' relay and distance event has a different winner, and in this case you can even include the sprint races. Josh Polk (Hobbton) won the 200 in 21.82 after a stumble prevented him from winning the 100; he was the top seed there, but Jeremiah Wilson (Riverside) came out the winner. Polk is just a sophomore, though, so we still have MANY more races to see in his future! Tony Davis (Atkins) took the 400 in 49.65, the only runner under 50.
Hayden Alexander (Thomas Jefferson) held off Jacob Parker (Elkin) to win the 3200, 9:46 - 9:49, in the third of three close distance races. Jeremy Kankula (Atkins) claimed the 800 with a time of 1:59.57, winning by less than half a second, while Adam Urbaniuk (Hayesville) earned the 1600 title with a 4:30.29. South Davidson dominated the 4x800, winning by 14 seconds with their time of 8:09. Rosewood pulled out the win in an incredibly competitive 4x400, running 3:29.00 to hold off Avery (3:29.29) and 3 other squads under 3:31.