Girls NCHSAA 1A State Meet Recap
It would have been hard to determine the MVP for the girls at this meet. Looking through the results, the first thing that jumps out at me is the diversity of event winners: only two girls won multiple events, and no school won more than a single relay. That began with the very first running event, where favored Swain was upset by Mount Airy in the 4x800, 9:48 - 9:59. Winston-Salem Prep suffered a false start in the 4x200, allowing Bessemer City to take the win in 1:49. That definitely hurt the Phoenix in the team scores, but to their credit they rallied to take the 4x100 by clocking 50.98. Swain also came back from their disappointment in the 4x800 to claim the 4x400 by running 4:16, which also secured the team title for the Maroon Devils.
One of the double winners was Ashya Smith (Winston-Salem Prep), who edged Asia Henry (Union) by 0.08 in the 100 Hurdles then claimed the 300 Hurdle gold by defeating Zoriyah McDonald (Whiteville) 47.05 - 47.55. Smith is a junior, so she will be back for the "double double" attempt in 2017. Not so for senior Sydney McCoy (Camden), who controlled the 100 Dash with a 12.17 and pulling out a narrow victory in the long jump with a final mark of 17' 1.5", enough to hold off De'Ja Reid (Winston-Salem Prep) by 1.5 inches. Desire Brown (Heide Trask, pictured above) was the most dominant of the three, winning the 200 in 25.32 after winning the 400 in 57.53. In that race, she had competition from Swain's Maleeah Langstaff until she fell on the final stretch, but she recovered in time to score 4 valuable points for her team.
Every distance and field event had a unique winner, and a handful of them stood out for exceptional performances. Tanasza Simpson (Pender) prevailed in a very competitive shot put, throwing 39' 5.25"; likewise for Emma Frye (North Stokes) in the triple jump with her mark of 35' 8.5". McKenzie Scott (Queens Grant) and Nylaa Tutt (Pamlico) dueled all the way to the end of the high jump, both clearing 5' 2", before Scott was able to claim the win based on previous misses. The distance races belonged to youngsters in 2016, which bodes well for the future. Sophomores Jo Snow (Mt Airy) and Emma Pindur (Swain) won the 1600 and 800, respectively, while freshman Michaela Gammon (Lincoln Charter) won the 3200 over a fellow 9th-grader, Caitlyn Burkett (Franklin Academy).