Staff Writer
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| Boys team after taking conference title. |
This year’s Track and
Field SWAC Championship, normally a two day back to back competition, was
postponed due to severe weather so that the first day fell on Monday, April
28th, and the second on Thursday, May 1st. But despite the threat of storms,
the athletes kept their focus and saw Apex boys place first with 199.5 points,
Green Hope follow in second with 119 points, and Holly Springs finish third
with 85 points. Apex girls placed second with 157 points, behind Cary with
179.5, and ahead of Green Hope with 139 points.
Field athletes performed well both days in shot put and discus. Senior Tiffany Finley placed first in discus with a 101-09.00, and second in shot put with a throw of 35-05.00. Senior Jason Lockamy placed first in discus (158-01.00) and third in shot put (42-06.50). Finley and Lockamy will be competing at the regional meet and Coach Kelley affirms that this Saturday, “the objective is to go to states.”
Pole Vault once again gave the girls and boys teams an advantage from day one.
Junior Anna Eaton placed first in the women’s pole vault (12-06.00). Junior
Michael Utecht placed first in men’s (15-00.00), senior Joe Devries placed
second (15-00.00), and junior Drew Pedersen placed third (14-00.00). Utecht
reflected positively on the meet. “Reaching my personal record again was a good
feeling.”
Junior Katie Mazanec soared above the bar and set a new season best at 5’0”, winning the conference high jump. “Winning was not on my mind at all, so I was really relaxed and let my body do the work,” says Mazanec.
Jumpers were led by junior Sydnei Murphy for the girls, and senior Reyho Tshiama for the boys. Murphy placed first in the long jump (18-00.25) and triple jump (39-09.00). Senior Reyho Tshiama placed second in triple jump (45-03.50), long jump (20-09.00), and high jump (6-04.00). “My long jump wasn’t what I was aiming for, but I set a personal record in the triple and the high. Going into regionals, I’ll have to do well if we want to win this. Knightdale has really good jumpers,” says Tshiama.
Murphy also led the girls in the sprint events with a total of 16 points, placing second in the 100-meter dash (11.91) and 200-meter dash (24.45).”It’s never fun to lose, but it’s a big motivation for training and it’s what makes competing fun- you never know what’s going to happen,” says Murphy. Senior Callie Scull followed in Murphy’s footsteps and finished third in the 100- meter dash with a time of 12.57, and despite a fall in the 300-meter hurdles feet from the finish, stumbled up and across the line in fourth. “You get up and you finish and there’s not much you can do. Move past it, don’t let it be a mental block,” said Scull on Tuesday after Monday’s competition. On Thursday she met her goal in the 800, placing third with a time of 2:20.47.
The sprinter boys saw great performances from junior Tyler Cook, who placed first in the 100-meter dash (11.06), and senior Tim Darcelien who placed third in the 200- meter dash (22.94).
Senior distance runner Mihret Coulter placed in all of his events; first in the 1600 (4:20.12), 3200 meter run (9:45.47), and second in the 800 (1:56.21). “Conference gave me the confidence that I can do better at regionals. It was nice too because it was divided into two days so I had time to rest between my races,” says Coulter. The boys four by 800 team of senior Ryan Johnson, junior Jordan Kokoska, senior Nick Shirley, and junior Spencer Colwell placed first with a time of 8:09.33. Although a senior, this was the first conference track meet Shirley has competed in. “It wasn’t something I thought about as a freshman or sophomore, but my friends got me into it,” says Shirley.
On the whole, Coach Roy Cooper was pleased. “The teams performed very well. The boys winning was an excellent team effort and I think the girls, although unhappy their streak of winning conference was broken, did exceedingly well considering what we had this season.”
Looking to the looming regional meet, tomorrow’s goal is for as many athletes as possible to finish within the top four and advance to the state meet. “And if the teams do well because of that, the so much the better,” says Cooper.
2014 Women’s All Conference Track and Field Team: Sydnei Murphy, Anna Eaton, Tiffany Finley, Katie Mazanec, and Callie Scull
2014 Men’s All Conference Track and Field Team: Jason Lockamy, Reyho Tshiama, Joe DeVries, Tyler Cook, Ryan Johnson, Jordan Kokoska, Nick Shirley, Spencer Colwell and Mihret Coulter
