CHAPEL HILL–For the second year in a row, North Carolina High School Athletic Association member schools will be competing for state championships in three different classifications of indoor track, scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

            There are now separate championships for both the 3-A and the 4-A schools, with 1-A and 2-A competing together.  Indoor track began in 1987 as an open championship, and then a 4-A separate meet was held for the first time in 2007, with 1-A/2-A/3-A all competing together at that time.

            For the third consecutive year, the championships will be held at JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem.

            JDL Fast Track, one of the premier indoor track and field facilities in the Southeast, is the brainchild of two former Wake Forest University runners and current real estate developers, David Shannon and Craig Longhurst, who identified and fulfilled a need for an area indoor track facility for use by colleges, high schools, local track clubs and youth track organizations.

          The privately owned, dedicated indoor track and field facility, which opened in January of 2012, houses a 200-meter oval track with a Mondotrack FTX surface—the same surface used at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Field event areas include two pole vault runways, two long/triple jump runways, one high jump apron and one throws area. The facility also includes a 100-meter warm-up track, office and meeting-room space, a training room, and hospitality suites for coaches’ or conference officials’ meetings at large events.

            This year's meets will start with the 1-A/2-A championships on Friday. Competition will begin at 4 pm.

            On Saturday, the 3-A meet is scheduled to start at 9 am.  After that meet has concluded, 4-A schools will hold their championships, with both field events and running events beginning at 3:30 p.m.

           Last year Knightdale won the men’s 4-A team title, the fourth year in a row that it had won or shared the crown. Waxhaw Marvin Ridge won the 3-A crown and North Brunswick captured top honors in the 1-A/2-A meet.

            Winston-Salem Parkland snapped a three-year reign by Raleigh Wakefield as the women’s champions with its state title in the 4-A classification in 2014.   Marvin Ridge also won the 3-A women’s title and Burlington Cummings was the 1-A/2-A champ.

 

NCHSAA FastFacts
          Event: 27th annual NCHSAA Indoor Track and Field Championships

          Date: Friday, February 13 for 1-A/2-A, starting at 4 p.m.; Saturday, February 14 for 3-A, starting at 9 a.m., and then 4-A starting at 3:30 p.m.

          Site: JDL Fast Track, Kernersville

          Admission: eight dollars

           First Held: 1987

          Defending champions:  women: 1-A/2-A, Raleigh Charter; 3-A, Marvin Ridge; 4-A, Charlotte Catholic; men: 1-A/2-A, North Carolina School of Science and Math; 3-A, Chapel Hill; 4-A, Green Hope.

            Of Interest: Knightdale has either won or shared the state 4-A team title in the men’s competition in each of the last four years.