GREENSBORO— Jahmaal Daniel won a pair of individual events on Friday to help lead Fayetteville Terry Sanford to the men’s team title in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state 3-A track and field championships at the Irwin Belk Track at North Carolina State A&T University.
Daniel took first place in both the 100 and the 200 as Terry Sanford scored 58 points to 40 for Asheville and Northeast Guilford, in a second-place tie. Waxhaw Marvin Ridge (34) was fourth and Morganton Freedom (31) fifth. Northern Guilford, the defending 3-A men’s champ, was sixth. A total of 58 teams scored points in the men’s meet.
Philip Hall also had a big role in the Terry Sanford victory, earning the men’s Most Valuable Performer award. He won the 1600, finished second in the 800 and was third in the 3200.
Nash Central’s Damian Silver was a double winner, taking top honors in both the 110 high hurdles and the 300 hurdles.
In the women’s meet, Western Alamance took first place in three field events, including two by Alexis Dickerson, to hold off the field. Dickerson won both the shot and the discus and Lydia Laws of Western Alamance was also a double winner, winning the triple jump and earning a title in the 300 hurdles.
Laws, who also had second-place finishes in the 100 and the long jump. earned the women’s MVP.
Western Alamance recorded 56 points to 50 for Asheville A.C. Reynolds, with Fayetteville Westover in third with 36 points. Weddington was fourth with 35 and West Carteret fifth with 34.50 points among the 55 schools scoring in the women’s meet.
Anna Vess of A.C. Reynolds had an outstanding meet, winning two distance events in impressive fashion. She won the 3200 meters in 3-A record time, erasing a mark that had stood for 16 years, in 10:52.18. Earlier in the meet, she nipped Blake Dodge of West Carteret, who is the NCHSAA Female Athlete of the Year and three-time Most Valuable Performer in the state 3-A championships, by a mere .01 second in the 1600. Her winning time of 5:00.39 was just over a second slower than Dodge’s current 3-A record in that event. Dodge did win the 800 meters.
Courtney Warner of Pikeville Charles B. Aycock won the 100 and the 200. Southern Guilford’s Kylie McMillan set a new state 3-A record in the 100 high hurdles with a winning time of 14.11 seconds.
The 3200 meter relay team from Asheville A.C. Reynolds established a new 3-A standard with a 9:20.23 performance.
The Greensboro Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Greensboro Sports Commission serve as the host city sponsors for the event. The 4-A championships are scheduled for Saturday.
