Liberty Christmas Invitational Highlights

Wakefield was one of only three North Carolina teams that traveled up to Lynchburg, VA this past weekend, but they provided plenty of highlights. Start off with Tiana Patillo, the nation's top returning 500 runner, who won in 1:18.23. Patillo also ran 40.76 for the 300, a race she lost to teammate Tyra Lea's 40.51. Vaulter Kristen Lee cleared 12' 0" in her first competition, while Dejah Jones clocked 3:07.55 for the 1000. That's four individual state leaders right off the bat, and the Wolverines also ran 1:46.03 for 4x200. Wakefield's boys won their 4x2 in 1:34.30, and Jalen Buxton won the 300 with a time of 37.51. To round things out for Wakefield, Caleb Conwell jumped 6' 5" and 20' 7.25", winning both events. North Carolina was also represented by double winner Collin Loy (Southern Alamance), who ran 4:25.97 for 1600 meters and 9:47.35 for the 3200. Finally, Jose San Miguel (Cardinal Gibbons) won the pole vault with a clearance of 13' 0".

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JDL Kickoff Classic Highlights

The first meet of the first full season at the JDL was filled with strong early performances, including five that currently rank first in the nation (although we are only two weekends into the season, and several states don't start until January, so that doesn't mean too much yet). Isaiah Moore (Cummings) brought home two wins and two US #1 rankings, running 7.43 in the 55 Hurdles and jumping 23' 3" in the long jump. Alyiah Riley (High Point Central) also claimed the top spot in the national rankings by winning the girls' hurdles in 8.31. Myles Lazarou (Northern Guilford, competing unattached) cleared a nation-leading 6' 6" in the high jump, while Knightdale's boys ran a US #1 of 3:27.65 in the 4x400. Finally, James Drummond (Lexington, unattached) ran 6.45 in the 55 dash, which is currently the top performance in the country.

Though they don't lead the country, Sydnei Murphy (Apex, running unattached) and Paisley Simmons (TW Andrews, also unattached) ran fast times of 7.16 and 7.25, respectively, in the 55 dash. There was a great battle in the finals of the girls' shot put, during which Breanna Warren (Western Guilford) and Hailey Cook (Hendersonville) one-upped each other several times; Warren came out on top with a US #2 throw of 42' 4" to beat Cook's US #3 of 41' 10.75". Brooke Shelton (Ledford, unattached) and Rayna Yvars (Green Hope) also had a great duel in the vault, with both girls clearing 11' solidly before both lost their rhythm on the next height. Jon Beyle (East Chapel Hill) threw a PR of 56' 7.5" in the boys' shot put, earning him a US #3 ranking, while Colin Minor (South Brunswick) also managed an all-time best of 53' 7.75". James Drummond (Lexington, unattached) ran 6.45 in the 55 dash for US #2, showing that he is back healthy from his nightmare of a junior year.

The race of the day, however, was clearly the boys' 500, where four athletes ran faster than the MileSplit US First Team Elite standard of 1:08. Josiah Elliot (Parkland) led the way with his US #2 1:06.29, followed closely by Knightdale teammates Marquavious Johnson and Henry Kiedy at 1:06.60 (US #5) and 1:06.95 (US #6). Micah Grier (Hopewell, unattached) came through in 1:07.85 to sneak into the top 10 in the national rankings. Not to be outdone in the longer sprint, 300 runners Barry Harris (Southeast Guilford) and Phillip Bryant (Northwest Guilford, unattached) posted times of 35.52 (US #2) and 35.77 (US #4).

It would be a shame if we failed to mention two of the out-of-state athletes that attended the meet, as their performances were top-notch. Zach Taylor (Northwestern SC) ran 6.46 in the 55 dash (US # and 35.69 in the 300 (US #3). Tray Oates (Allatoona GA) cleared 15' 7" in his first vault competition of the season, which puts him at US #3; Ethan Smith (Cedar Ridge) went 14' 6" in the same event to rank fourth in the nation at this point.

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