WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Cuthbertson women claimed their first indoor Track and Field championship on Saturday as they edged West Carteret 71-54. Marvin Ridge grabbed their third championship on the men’s side in the last four years, out running Jacksonville 57-38.
The Women’s meet M.V.P. was Sarah LaTour from Cuthbertson who anchored the victorious 4 X 800 Relay team, combining with Lexi Noch, Gabriella Castro and Charlotte Spivey to post a time of 9:47.82. LaTour also won the 1000-meter run, posting a time of 3:02.34. LaTour finished second in the 1600-meter Run (5:10.87), just behind Chapel Hill’s Katherine Dokholyan who finished in 5:09.05. LaTour also posted a second place finish in the 3200-meter Run (11:35.87) finishing behind Emme Fisher from West Carteret who posted an 11:29.14.
The Men’s M.V.P. was Gabriel Stainback from Concord who was a double-individual winner. He claimed first in the High Jump clearing 6’ 6” before taking the top spot in the Long Jump posting a distance of 22’ 8.50”.
In the women’s meet, Mackenzie Whitaker was a double event winner for West Carteret claiming the Long Jump by crossing 18’ 3.25” and the Triple Jump by travelling 38’ 5”.
Cuthbertson was aided to their championship by a third place finish from Jaelyn Warren in the 55-meter Hurdles, finishing in :08.90 behind event winner Randi Yeomans from West Carteret (:08.56) and Guyah Love from Ashbrook (:08.80).
Nash Central girls took two of the meet’s three relay events as they won the 4 X 200 Relay with Michaela Nelms, Myia Spivey, Teona Hill and T’Keyah Macklin posted a new 3A meet record of 1:46.61, just ahead of the quartet from Marvin Ridge (1:47.12). The Cuthbertson 4 X 200 Relay team of Autumn Blackwood, Dahlia Cutler, Aubrie Farwell and Kailyn Hayes finished in third with a time of 1:49.66.
Nash Central also nabbed the 4 X 400 Relay in a 3A meet record time of 4:07.43 with Macklin, Carisha Leonard, Hill and Nelms combining to break the old record of 4:09.57 set by Nash Central last year. Nelms also set a new 3A meet record in the 300-meter Dash, winning the event with a time of :40.64 seconds.
On the men’s side, Nadir Thompson from Southern Nash set a new classification meet record of :34.78 seconds in the 300-meter dash, eclipsing the old mark of :35.02 set by Eric Winfrey from Douglas Byrd in 2010.
Marvin Ridge’s championship came from a very solid effort by several performers. Myles Hunt took third in the Triple Jump, posting 43’ 1” and finishing behind event winner Marcus McDonald from Southern Durham (44’ 9”) and John Jones from White Oak (43’ 02”). Peter Shelley from the Mavericks tied for third three-ways in the Pole Vault, clearing 12’ 6” with Ben Finger from North Gaston and Charles Cooley from West Carteret. Bogue Dick from Swansboro was the Pole Vault Winner at 13’ 6”.
The Mavericks got a second place finish from the team of Connor Gross, Jacob Lipsey, Mason Bhatia and Mack Despard in the 4 X 800 Relay. The team combined for a time of 8:09.85 just over a full second off the pace set by Asheville’s team of Santez Booze, Kodi Coddington, Haven Honeycutt, and Davis Turner who finished in 8:08.14. Bhatia would add an event win for Marvin Ridge in the 1000-meter Run, finishing in 2:36.59.
Marvin Ridge’s Shelley had the top time in the 55-meter Hurdles prelims (:07.67), edging eventual event winner Jacobi Lloyd from Jacksonville by just a hundredth of a second in the prelim heats. Lloyd posted a time of :07.55 seconds in the finals to take the win while Shelley finished third with a time of :07.68, just behind second place Jalen Houston from West Rowan (:07.66).
