NCHSAA 4A State Meet Preview: Team Titles Completely Up In The Air!



Field Events

Girls Throws

Veronica Fraley (Wakefield) had the best weekend of any girl throwers at regionals throwing 42-10.75 and 138-6 in the shot and discus.  But she certainly isn't guaranteed anything on Friday as Hillside's Kayla Beasley is looking for a double win as well and Kaitlin McGoogan (Ragsdale) will be looking to improve in the discus once again.  McGoogan's thrown 130-131 pretty consistently as of recent and the sophomore could certainly steal one this weekend.  Beasley is stronger in the shot and is the only other girl in the field that was over 40 feet last weekend.  Look for the Mideast and Midwest Champions to battle it out.

Boys Throws

Austin Harrison (West Forsyth) was the indoor shot put champion and has been head and shoulders better than the rest of his 4A competitors this year.  It seems like a big focus for him could be the success of teammates, Nathan Myers who is the #2 seed in the discus and Zach Weinstein who is the #5 seed in the shot put.  Going 1-2 in either event would be huge for their team points as they look to be in the mix for a trophy at the end of the day.  Harrison has throw over 58 feet both indoors and outdoors this year and I'm sure the 60 foot mark is going to be on his mind in the shot put.  Chancelor Crawford (North Mecklenburg) the sophomore will be looking for the upset in both events as he ranks #2 in the shot and #3 in the discus.  Crawford and Myers could very well be the top two throwers in NC the next two seasons.

Girls Pole Vault

Olivia Goodwin (Cary), Lindsay Absher (West Forsyth) and Elise Hall (Leesville Road) outclass the field slightly as they're the only girls over 11-6 this season and have PRs of 12-7, 12-0 and 11-9 respectively.  Goodwin was the indoor champion this season, and will come in as the favorite this weekend.  If she vaults close to her 12-7 PR it's going to take a big day from Absher of Hall to take her down.  Both Absher and Hall are sophomores and will certainly have many battles to come in this event.

Boys Pole Vault

Seth Rabinowitz (Providence) and Doug Scott (Broughton) are the only two that have cleared further than 14-0 this season with seasons best of 14-7.5 and 14-6.  But I am not counting out many in this field including indoor state champion John Lehe (Lake Norman) and Patrick Freeman (Mount Tabor).  Lehe actually beat Rabinowitz at the 4A West regional as Scott won the Mideast and Freeman the Midwest.  I think between these four it's a different result every time and all have an equal shot at winning come Friday.

Girls High Jump

Kenya Livingston (Rocky River) has been the one to beat the last two years in the girls high jump.  It seemed like once she stood out far amongst the field, but it seems the rest of NC has caught up to her. She holds the best mark on the season with a 5-10.  Morgan Smalls (Panther Creek) the freshman had a huge day at regionals jumping 5-9 making herself a serious threat to Livingston in defending her title from last year.  Also Chris Toe (Page) has jumped 5-6 this season.  Addie Renner (Myers Park) has beaten Livingston this year indoors and outdoors at their conference meet and will look to do so again on Friday.  Hopefully jumping conditions are ideal so we can see some girls get close to the 6 foot mark.

Boys High Jump

To me this is one of the most wide open events of the weekend with the top 9 boys between 6-4 and 6-7.  Idris Bernand (Mallard Creek) is the top seed at 6-7 and we will get to see how he fairs on the big stage this weekend.  Seth Clyburn (West Forsyth) was the indoor state champion and will look to make it 2/2 this season in the high jump.  He has been stuck at 6-6 for a while now and will likely need to improve on that if he wants to win it this weekend.  Jabrill Griffin (North Mecklenburg) and Charles McBride (Apex Friendship) should also be in the mix as both have cleared 6-5.  With so many boys close together it very well could end with multiple athletes at the same height.  Every jump matters as just one miss could move you from 1st to 2nd.