KNIGHTDALE, WAKEFIELD REPEAT AS TEAM CHAMPS
IN NCHSAA STATE 4-A TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
GREENSBORO — The defending team champions held on to their titles on Saturday in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state 4-A track and field championships at the Irwin Belk Track at North Carolina A&T.
Knightdale won its second consecutive men’s crown and Wakefield took the women’s title for the third straight year.
Knightdale’s depth, winning two relays and getting a 200 meters title from Joseph Horton, helped lift the Knights 67 points to 48 for Pfafftown Ronald Reagan. Raleigh Enloe was third with 37 points, followed by Scotland (31) and Raleigh Broughton (28).
A total of 61 teams tallied points in the men’s championships.
Reagan’s Craig Engles was voted the meet’s Most Outstanding Performer. He was an individual winner in two events, taking top honors in the 800 and the 1600, and ran a leg on the victorious four by 800 relay team.
East Chapel Hill junior Jon Beyle was the champion in both the discus and the shot put.
In the women’s meet, Raleigh Wakefield recorded 60 points to 35 for runner-up West Mecklenburg. Durham Jordan was third with 34, with Greensboro Dudley and Western Guilford knotted in fourth with 32 points each.
A total of 51 schools scored in the women’s meet.
Senior Alexis Perry of Durham Jordan earned the meet’s Most Outstanding Performer award. She was a double state champion, taking top honors in both the long jump and the high jump, finished second in the 100 meter high hurdles and also ran a leg on the four by 100 relay team for Jordan.
Alexis Murphy, a senior at Apex, was the champ in both the 100 and the 200, winning in times of 11.66 and 23.96 seconds, respectively.
Two long-standing records were broken in the women’s meet. Shelby Howell of Wilmington New Hanover eclipsed a 27-year old mark in the 800 meters, winning in a time of 2:11.99 to break the mark set by Mary Anne Carraher of Lee County in 1985. Raleigh Millbrook’s Samantha George broke a 20-year old 4-A record, winning the 1600 in 4:51.54, just .05 seconds faster than the time Amy Herrmann of Charlotte Providence ran to establish the mark back in 1992.
East Forsyth’s Sydney White broke her own 4-A pole vault record by two inches as she cleared 12 feet, nine inches, and the Wakefield four by 400 relay team broke its own mark set two years ago in a time of 3:47.72.
COMPLETE RESULTS OF ALL TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS CAN BE FOUND BY GONG TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS LINK ELSEWHERE ON THE FRONT PAGE (DOWN THE RIGHT SIDE) AND THEN CLICKING ON TRACK.
