Watch Joey Wynn run 50.08 at adidas Track Nationals
Two future stars to keep an eye on that have had a strong start to their high school careers are Charlotte Christian's Joey Wynn and Mallard Creek's Bella-Marie Black. Both athletes have been stars in the Youth and/or Middle School scene for their age group, but each have made a great transition to the high school level.
Wynn competed for Charlotte Christian throughout middle school as well and came into his freshman year with PRs of 22.85 for the 200m, 50.34 in the 400m and 20-3.75 for the Long Jump from 8th grade. He was the Long Jump and 400m NCRunners Middle School All-State Champion as well as the 200m Runner-Up. He also ran 42.19 for the 300m Hurdles and 59.35 for the 400m Hurdles.
Through his first indoor season Wynn ran 6.72 in the 55m Dash, 35.52 for the 300m Dash, 1:09.55 for the 500m Dash, 8.26 for the 55m Hurdles and Long Jumped 19-10.75. His biggest accolade was finishing at Freshman division Runner-Up at adidas Track Nationals running 50.08. Wynn's proven to be very versatile across all sprint and hurdles already as well as the Long Jump and is going to be a major threat for the NCISAA throughout his high school career.
Bella-Marie Black has always been a star of her age group on a club scene with results dating back to 2015 with many AAU and USATF National Titles to her name. She ran 11.77 (NWI) for the 100m and was the 14 Year Old AAU 100m National Champion running 11.81. Black also ran 24.27 for the 200m and 59.96 for the 400m as an eighth grader.
In her freshman indoor season at Mallard Creek she made the 55m Dash finals at the NCHSAA 4A Indoor State Championships finishing 6th overall in 7.11. She was also on their State Runner-Up 4x200m Relay that ran 1:42.41.
Black's best marks would come from Nike Indoor Nationals where she finished Runner-Up in the Freshman 60m Dash Finals running 7.56, which gave an en route split in her personal best 55m Dash of 7.02. She opened her outdoor season in the 100m last weekend at the Cummings HS Invitational where she won with a NC#2 mark of 11.80 (NWI).