NCHSAA State 4-A Track And Field Championships – Story

NCHSAA STATE 4-A TRACK AND FIELD
KNIGHTDALE WINS THIRD STRAIGHT NCHSAA STATE 4-A TRACK CROWN,
SOUTHEAST GUILFORD OVERCOMES WAKEFIELD FOR WOMEN’S TITLE

GREENSBORO — Knightdale capped off its third consecutive North Carolina High School state 4-A men’s track and field team championship with a record setting performance in the four by 400 relay on Saturday afternoon at the Irwin Belk Track at North Carolina A&T State University on Saturday.

Knightdale scored 68 points to 51 for runner-up Fayetteville Terry Sanford and won the final event of the day in spectacular fashion, setting an NCHSAA all-classification record in the four by 400 meter relay by more than a second, in 3:12.87, and breaking a mark set way back in 1987 by Durham Hillside by over a second. The record setting team included Henry Kiedy, Bernard Freeman, Marcell Johnson and Marquavious Johnson, and Marquavious Johnson also won the 400.

Terry Sanford produced the two double winners on the men’s side, with sophomore Philip Hall taking first in both the 800 and 1600 while junior Jahmaal Daniel was the champion in both the 100 and 200. Hall was named the Most Valuable Performer in the men’s meet, as he also ran a leg on the four by 800 relay team which finished fifth.

Charlotte Mallard Creek placed third with 40 points, followed by East Chapel Hill (34) and Jamestown Ragsdale (32). A total of 60 schools scored points in the men’s meet. There were 49 schools scoring in the women’s meet.

In the women’s championship, Southeast Raleigh snapped Wakefield’s string of state team titles at three, winning the crown for the first time since 2009. Southeast tallied 89 points to 82 for Wakefield, followed by Winston-Salem Parkland with 58 points and then a three-way time for fourth among Raleigh Broughton, Asheville T.C. Roberson and Apex with 35 points apiece.

Senior Tiana Patillo of Wakefield was the women’s MVP as she won the 400, finished second in the 200, third in the 100, and ran a leg on the four by 400 relay that placed fourth.

Breanna Warren of Western Guilford took top honors in both the shot and the discus, and three Parkland relay teams finished first, winning the four by 100, four by 200, and the four by 400.

The four by 200 quartet of Myshale Spigner, Katilin Sherman, Ebony Williams and Erin Morrison–including three sophomores and a junior–set an NCHSAA all-classification record in a blistering time of 1:37.83. Three of those four also sprinted their way to the 1600 meter relay title in another all-classification record, breaking the tape in 3:47.70. The Parkland four by 100 team tied the existing 4-A mark in 47.22.

Wakefield’s Kristen Lee soared 13 feet even in the pole vault, setting another all-classification mark.

There was about an hour weather delay early in the afternoon.