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Athletes compete in 2A State championship

alex brooks, bladen journal, elizabethtown, n.c.
·5 min read

May 22—GREENSBORO — The NCHSAA 2A State Championship took place at North Carolina A&T this Friday with huge PRs and state crowns being handed out. West Bladen's girls 4×200 team of Kiera Lewis, Trinity Van Eyken, Shanyla Hunter, and Azilliyah McDonald represented the Knights at states. They finished 14th with a season-best time of 1:52:37 amongst the state's most elite runners in the 2A classification. SAC 7 schools Midway, Clinton, St. Pauls, Red Springs, and Fairmont also had athletes competing in the competition.

Midway's senior jumper Jamir McRae came into the high jump competition as the favorite after jumping over 7 '0 feet in regionals for a personal best. He jumped a 6 '08 to secure the state title, with junior Kenneth Byrd from East Burke claiming the silver after jumping a 6'06 and senior Jared Hiatt of North Surry took bronze with 6'04. McRae took his second state title of the day in the triple jump with 45-10.50 and finished second in the long jump with 21-09.50.

Clinton had four males competing in individual events and their 4x100m relay team competed for a 13th-place finish. Junior Amaris Williams is a hot prospect on the gridiron and he showed off his athleticism in the shot put with a second-place finish. Junior thrower Dexter Wilson finished 14th in the discus with his longest throw being 98-4 and sophomore jumper Nydarion Blackwell finished 14th in the high jump with a season's best height of 5 '8. Sophomore hurdler Ja'karrion Kenan finished 14th with a season-best time of 15.89 in the prelims.

St. Pauls was represented by junior jumper Hope Morgan for the women's side and the men's side was represented by senior hurdler Marcus Alexander and junior sprinter Charles Johnson, and their 4x400m team competed for a fourth-place finish. Morgan finished fifth in the women's high jump with a height of 5'0 and she finished sixth in the long jump with a leap of 16-5. Alexander ran a 16.16 in the 110m prelims for a 12th place finish and Johnson dropped a 51.90 in one lap around for a 9th place finish in the 400m. Johnson was also a part of the Bulldogs 4×4 team that just missed out on the podium with a season-best time of 3:28:40.

Red Springs was solely represented by sophomore thrower Monica Washington, who threw a season's best of 29-2.75 for a 15th-place finish in the shot put and she threw a distance of 85-4.25 in the discus.

Fairmont's speedy senior Kiara Campbell and senior thrower Zandra Upson represented on the women's side; while junior sprinter Travelius Leach and their 4x100m relay team represented their men's side. Campbell ran 12.67 in the 100m prelims for an eighth-place finish before clocking a 12.59 in the 100m final to finish in 7th. She also ran a 26.47 in the 200m for a 10th-place finish. Leach ran an 11.34 in the 100m prelims for a 12th place finish and he ran on the Golden Tornadoes 4×1 that finished fifth with a season's best time of 43.24.

T.W. Andrews sprinters of junior Corey McManus and sophomore Ja'Neil Harris took first and second in the 100m with blazing times. McManus ran 10.56 for the gold and Harris finished behind him with a 10.63 to secure the silver. Harris took gold in the 200m by a hair with a time of 21.74 and Cummings junior Jonathan Paylor took the silver with a time of 21.75. Paylor took gold in the 400m a little bit earlier in the day with a time of 48.22.

South Granville senior and Arkansas Razorback commit Shawnti Jackson stood victorious over the field in both the 100m, 200m, and 400m for the women's side. She ran an insanely fast 100m with a time of 11.33 which is amongst the top times in the nation and she broke the state record in the 200m with a time of 22.70. The previous record of 22.88 had stood since 2006 and Jackson absolutely crushed it. She also took the 400m title with a time of 53.02 to demolish the field to tally three individual gold medals. Jackson was also apart of South Granville's 4x100m team that finished in third.

Senior distance runner Andrew Parker from NC School of Science and Math reigned supreme for both long-distance races on the men's side. He ran a time of 4:21.40 in the 1600m to take first place and after 8 laps around the track, he secured his second gold medal of the day with a time of 9:33.67 in the 3200m.

West Stanley freshman distance runner Kelsey Burleson took the gold medal in the 1600m with a time of 5:22.22 and senior long distance runner Kathrine Hopkins took the gold medal in the 3200m with a time of 11:24.40.

Farmville Central won the 4x100m with a time of 48.35 and South Granville took the 4x200m title with a time of 1:40.41 on the women's side. T.W. Andrews took the 4x100m relay title with a blazing fast time of 42.51 and Northeastern won the 4x200m with a 1:28.40 on the men's side. Owen took the 4x400m with meters to spare and NC School of Science and Math secured the 4x800m title for the men.