All three local high schools will have some type of representation at the state track and field championships this weekend.
The Catawba Ridge boys and Nation Ford girls will have the most representation as they both will be competing in nine events. The Copperheads will be in the 4A state track meet Friday night starting at 5 p.m., while Nation Ford and Fort Mill will be in the 5A state meet Saturday at 9 a.m. Both track meets will be at Spring Valley High School in Columbia.
The Copperheads participated in the 4A state qualifier at York Saturday where Sam Rich won both the 1,600-meters in 4:15.81 and the 3,200-meters in 9:33.54. Josh Silverman finished seventh in the 3,200-meters to qualify as well in the event with a time of 9:56.27.
Jonathan Hairston finished third in the 400-meters in 50.81 and Alex Conetta was fourth in the event in 50.99 as both of them qualified for the state meet. The Catawba Ridge boys relay teams each qualified in the 4×800 and the 4×400. The Copperheads finished third in the 4×400 in 3:32.27 and fourth in the 8:35.44.
Catawba Ridge’s Thomas Maxwell qualified in two events with a third-place finish in both. He was third in the shot put at 46 feet, 7.25 inches and third in the discus with a throw of 137 feet, 2 inches. The Copperheads’ Evan Hamilton was fifth in the javelin with a throw of 132 feet and Forrest Rozelle was third in the pole vault clearing 11 feet, 6 inches each getting into the state meet with their performances.
For the Catawba Ridge girls’ team, they will be participating in five events with Tatum Postel and Jolie Nguyen qualifying in the pole vault. Postel finished third in the event clearing 9 foot, 6 inches and Nguyen also cleared 8 feet to finish fourth. Postel also qualified for the long jump with a leap of 16 feet, 6.5 inches.
The Copperheads’ Avery Shope finished second in the 800-meters in 2:23.79 and Maddy Mack was fourth in the 1,600-meters in 5:22.74. The Copperheads’ girls 4×800 relay team finished third in 10:30.48 to qualify as well for the state meet.
In the 5A state qualifier Saturday at Spring Valley, Nation Ford’s Katie Pou and Tessa Kramer led the way winning three events. Pou won the 1,600-meters in 5:11.12 and the 3,200-meters in 11:31.12. Kramer won the 400-meter hurdles in 1:04.81. Mia Royall finished eighth in the 1,600-meters in 5:28.95 to qualify as well for Nation Ford.
Despite not winning any events, Camryn Lorick qualified for three events in the 100-meters, 200-meters and high jump for Nation Ford. Lorick finished third in the high jump clearing 5 feet. She finished fourth in the 100-meters and 12.35 and forth in the 200-meters in 25.13. The Falcons’ Ansley Archuleta finished third in the 800-meters in 2:22:34 to qualify in that event. Nation Ford girls 4×100 and 4×800 relay teams also qualified with the 4×800 team finishing fourth in 9:51.37 and the 4×100 team finishing sixth in 48.93.
The Nation Ford boys had just two qualify for events with Connor O’ Flynn qualifying for the 1,600-meters in 4:30.47, which was good enough for seventh. Clayton Rygol also finished seventh in the javelin with a throw of 136 feet, 7 inches for the Falcons.
The Fort Mill boys also qualified for two events for the 5A state meet in the 1,600-meters and the 4×800. The 4×800 relay team finished second in 8:06.38 and the Jackets had three runners qualify for the 1,600-meters. Jackson Dawson won the 1,600-meters with a time of 4:26.43, Alec Lootens finished sixth in the event in 4:30.29 and Devon Sibley finished eighth in 4:31.44 which was good enough to qualify as well. The Fort Mill girls’ team didn’t have any qualify for the 5A state meet.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
