The three area high schools had several event winners and even more qualifiers from this weekend’s state meet.
The top four finishers in each event from the Upper and Lower State meets automatically qualify for the state meet this coming week, then the next eight best scores from the two meets will also qualify. To guarantee a qualifying spot, athletes needed to finish in the top four in events.
The 5A state meet is 5 p.m. Friday, May 17 at Spring Valley High School. The 4A meet is at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 18, also at Spring Valley.
Nation Ford had 11 guaranteed qualifiers and Fort Mill had six guaranteed qualifiers. Both boys’ 4×800 teams qualified as well.
Nation Ford’s Mia Royall won the 1,600-meter race in 4:51 and she also qualified in the 800-meter event. The Falcons’ Xavier Dixon won the 200-meter race in 21.30 and qualified for the 100-meter event. Neale Johnson won the long jump with a leap of 23.09 feet and qualified for the 400-meter hurdles as well for the Falcons.
Other guaranteed qualifiers for Nation Ford were – Addison Pollock (triple jump), Mason Haynes (3,200), Patrick McLeod (discus and shot put) and Lucas Barz (javelin).
Fort Mill had two winners in the Upper State meet with Alivia Cleveland winning the 800-meter in 2:15. She also qualified for the 1,600-meter.
Joseph Duey won the javelin event for Fort Mill with a throw of 172 feet, 5 inches.
Other guaranteed qualifiers for Fort Mill were – Elijah Grant (400), Tanner Long (1,600), and Kaleb Dennis (triple jump).
In the 4A Upper State qualifier, Sydney Pierce won the pole vault clearing 10 feet, 5 inches for Catawba Ridge.
Other guaranteed qualifiers for Catawba Ridge were – Bella Cardozo (3,200), Samirah Anderson (100-meter hurdles), Olivia Dubrow (discus), Joshua Dobson (200 and 400), Zach Webster (discus).
The Catawba Ridge 4×800 meter relay team qualified for both the boys’ and girls’ teams as well.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
