Boys Field
Shot Put
We should see a very competitive men's shot put as the top 5 boys are all over 47 feet with the top mark at 49-11. Wesley Purvis (North Pitt) holds that top mark, but Gabriel King (Mount Airy) is the top returner as he took 2nd last season and also won the Shot Put and Discus events outdoors. King hasn't thrown over 50ft indoors, but holds an outdoor PR of 54-8.75. Tyeree Steele (Lexington) is the second seed with a throw of 48-11 and will also be hoping to throw over 50 feet in his first appearance at the indoor state championships.
Pole Vault
Troy Lieberman (Polk County) has soared to new highs this indoor season getting his indoor PR up to 13-6 from 11-6 last indoor season. Tyler Fitzgerald (Surry Central) is the top returner in this event and took 2nd last indoor season with a vault of 12-6. Fitzgerald has jumped 14-0 this indoor season. Jake Justice (Polk County) is the third seed and holds a PR of 12-6 this season. No one has ever jumped higher than 13-0 at the NCHSAA 1A/2A Indoor State Championships and we should certainly see this indoor meet record go down.
Long Jump & Triple Jump
It is very unlike anyone will be able to contend with North Carolina's Long Jump State Record holder Jayhlen Washington (North Brunswick) in this event as the defending Long Jump Champion will look to put on a dominating performance in the horizontal jumps this Friday. Brunswick Indoor State Record Long Jump of 24-7.5 puts him almost 2 feet ahead of the next competitor, teammate JC Smith. Washington has also jumped 48-10 this season in the triple jump which is 6 feet further than second seed Hakeem Jenkins (Hendersonville). In the triple jump there are 6 other boys over 42 feet that are within 9 inches of each other in what should be an intense battle for podium performances.
High Jump
9 boys come in with a season's best mark over 6 feet which is what this event was won in last season by Luke Sheets (West Wilkes). 5 boys ended at this mark, but Sheets had the least amount of misses crowning him state champion. Jathan Deberry (North Brunswick) is the top seed with a best jump of 6-4 this indoor season. Trey Bryant (Northeastern) and Dakota Oxendine (St. Pauls) have both jumped 6-2 and enter tied for the second seed. Defending champion Sheets has only jumped 6-0 this season, and it will likely take a higher jump than that if he wants to defend his state title.