COLUMBIA – Two local individuals and one relay team brought home state titles from the 5A state track meet Saturday.
Fort Mill’s Alivia Cleveland set a new state record in the 1,600-meter in winning in 4:54 and Nation Ford’s Mia Royall, to her own surprise, won the 800-meter in 2:12.
“I was very surprised I won,” Royall said. “When I was coming down the shoot, all the footsteps behind me were disappearing. I felt like I ran all out. Before the race, I was just trying to calm myself down.”
As a team, Nation Ford had two top 10 finishes with the girl’s team finishing fourth with 48 points and the boy’s team finishing sixth with 33 points. Spring Valley boys won the 5A title on their home track at Spring Valley High School, and Blythewood won the 5A girl’s title. Fort Mill finished 11th for the boy’s team and the girl’s team finished ninth.
Nation Ford girls participated in seven events and scored in the top five in all of them led by Royall and the 4×400 relay team made up of Alyse Davis, Sierra Smith, Olicia Lucas and Aubrey Barney, which won the state title in the event in 3:51.
Smith also finished second in the 200-meter and fifth in the 100-meter. Royall finished third in the 1,600-meter as well.
The highest finisher for the Nation Ford boys was Mason Haynes, who came in second in the 3,200-meters in 9:19.
Other Nation Ford finishers for the boys were:
Xavier Dixon – 200-meter, third; 400-meter, fourth
Alex McCaskill – 800-meter, sixth
Alan Dayrit – 1,600-meter, third
Alexander Bentley – 1,600-meter, 10th
Townsend Smith – 3,200-meter, ninth
Connor Hill – 110-meter hurdles, 16th
Neale Johnson – 400-meter hurdles, sixth; long jump, 11th
Lucas Barz – javelin, seventh
Clayton Rygol – javelin, 10th
For Fort Mill, Cleveland said she didn’t realize she was setting the pace she was during the mile event.
“I was just trying to win,” she said. “My goal was to break five minutes, but not get the time I got. I knew I was going fast.”
The highest boy’s finisher was Isaac Campbell in the 1,600-meter in third in 9:26. Fort Mill also had their 4×400 and 4×800 relay team finish third.
Other Fort Mill finishers were:
Danielle Williams – 400-meter, 10th
Kaylee Rovenstine – 1,600-meter, seventh; 3,200-meter, ninth
Marisa Jones – high jump, third
Mia Williams – long jump, ninth; triple jump, sixth
Sienna Lydon – javelin, third
Kate Marker – javelin, 13th
Willa Clark – shot put, sixth
Elijah Grant – 400-meter, fifth
Lance Kimani – 400-meter, sixth
Elijah Jarrett – 400-meter, 16th
Liam Eident – 1,600-meter, eighth
Evan Ickert – 3,200-meter, 10th
Evan Way – 3,200-meter, 14th
Kaleb Dennis – 400-meter, ninth
In the 4A meet held at Lower Richland High School on Friday, May 19, Catawba Ridge girls finished tied for 16th with 18 points. The Catawba Ridge boys finished 18th with 13 points.
Individual finishers for Catawba Ridge were:
Gabriela Brailsford – 100-meter, 13th; 200-meter, 15th
Riley Shope – 3,200-meter, sixth
Tatum Postel – long jump, 13th
Jolie Nguyen – pole vault, third
Sydney Pierce – pole vault, sixth
Olivia Dubrow – shot put, third
Brandon Raysor – 400-meter, 13th
Zach Bannister – 800-meter, eighth
Max Conetta – 800-meter, 15th
Scott Keen – 1,600-meter, ninth
Ean Brown – high jump, 11th
Jackson Rozelle – pole vault, 13th
Zachary Webster – discus, sixth
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
