Panther Creek Propelled by 30 Points from J Johnson to win a NCHSAA 4A State Championship

Panther Creek came into the weekend as the underdogs to Green Hope who were the favorites according to our virtual meet with 56 points to Panther Creeks 39.  The Catamounts proved that the rankings mean nothing and certainly came ready to go on Saturday morning.  Panther Creek went on to score 40 points to West Forsyth's 31.  The Titans edged 4 teams, Green Hope, Garner, Parkland and Mallard Creek who all were within three points of West Forsyth.  Below marks the scoring of all the Panther Creek athletes who competed at the NCHSAA 4A State Championships.

Coming into the meet one thing was for certain, and it's that J Johnson had to have a flawless day if they were to be in team title contention, and he did just that.  In the prelims Johnson equaled William Henderson's (Baltimore Poly, Maryland) US#1 mark of 6.31.  Johnson got out hard, in one of the best starts I've ever seen, and eased up the last few meters as he easily had gotten the win in his prelim heat and was conserving energy for later in the day.  Johnson went on to run 6.33 in the finals to beat out Brandon Ray (Athens Drive) by .05 seconds.

Johnson knew the Long Jump and 300 weren't going to be a cake walk as he didn't enter as the top seed.  Johnson's 22-8.5, a new indoor PR, on his third attempt left him as the top seed going into the finals.  Since he was the top seed he got to jump last in the finals and was able to pass his final attempt and converse energy for the 300.

Finals                                                                           
  1   130 J Johnson           12 Panther Creek         22-08.50      6.92m  10   
      22-00  FOUL  22-08.50  17-10  21-09.75  PASS     

Johnson entered the 300 as the #4 overall seed with a season's best mark of 35.30.  But he rose to the occasion and took the win narrowly over Parkland's Trequan Barnes.  Johnson clocked a US#13 34.39 with Barnes in at US#14 34.49.  Both boys also cracked North Carolina's Indoor All-Time Top 25 lists with Johnson at NC#6 All-Time and Barnes NC#8 All-Time.

As a triple winner Johnson easily walked away with the title of NCHSAA 4A MVP.  And for everyone who questions whether his first name is actually "J" he gives some background on how his name runs in the family. 

A huge addition to Panther Creeks track team is baseball player Ben Laspaluto who qualified in the Long Jump and Triple Jump and also ran a leg on the 4x200 that placed 7th.  Coach Paul Scruggs told me earlier in the season that Laspaluto's friend and teammate Kyle Fawzi convinced him to give track a try and it's worked out fantastically for Panther Creek.  Laspaluto qualified for states in his first meet competing in the triple jump with a mark of 42-10 at the Eastern High School Challenge.  In his second ever Triple Jump competition he placed 8th in 4A out of 33 athletes, a very impressive feat.  Laspaluto was awarded as one of two athletes to receive the NCHSAA sportsmanship award from the meet.

In 2014 Panther Creek did not send one boys to the NCHSAA Indoor State Championships.   In 2015 they just sent a 4x800 that placed 9th overall and score no points in the team competition.  In 2016 Panther Creek scored 19 points to finish 9th.  The distance side has also gotten much stronger as they finished 6th in the All-Class Team Rankings this fall.  Talk about a meteoric rise of a program.