Sports Editor
Boys Championship
On the guys’ side, they had one
individual state champion, senior Michael Utecht in the pole vault. Utecht has
been in a bit of an unfortunate situation the last couple of seasons as his teammates
have won state titles while he has always been on the short end of the stick.
Saturday was his day, however, as he edged his senior teammate Drew Pederson to
win his first state championship. “My goal for the season was to get a personal
record,” Utecht said, “I really dug deep for this last meet and it paid off.
The state title just added to it. I proved a lot to myself on Saturday.”
That 1-2 finish for Utecht and Pederson
was huge for Apex in the team score as they tried to finish in the top five
once again. Apex has been a consistent team in the top five at state championships
for track and cross country the past few years. Thanks to Pederson and Utecht,
Apex was in first place with only four events to go. That wouldn’t last long
thanks to senior Phillip Hall and South View, but Apex sat in second by one
point over Millbrook with just one event to go. Millbrook finished in fifth of
the 4x400 meter relay and passed Apex finishing second. Apex finished third
which was quite the accomplishment after not even projected to finish in the
top ten. Also contributing to the team score was the 4x800 meter relay which
finished eighth, junior Derek Duin in the 1600 meter race who finished sixth,
Tyler Cook in both the 55 meter dash and the 300m finishing sixth and fifth respectively,
and Brandon Easterling in the shot put who finished fifth.
Girls Championship
Going into the meet the favorite to win
the state championship were the Parkland girls, and that was never in doubt as
they cruised to a 42 point victory. The meet would come down to what other team
would medal and walk away State runner-up.
There were three teams that had a reasonable chance to finish second:
Cary, Leesville Road, and Apex. Other than Parkland, Cary has some of the best sprinters
and relays in the state and that is what would carry them. For Leesville it was
sophomore star Nevada Moreno who led the way as she competed in four events,
winning three of them. And then there was Apex who would own the field events.
The meet started with the 4x800 relay
and the Apex girls were coming off of a school record performance of 10:09 from
a week before. That record didn’t last long as the ladies, senior Sarah Wotus,
junior Cara Gaudioso, and sophomores Josie McGee and Kylie Hofmiester ran 10:05
to set a new school record. “It felt
great to see our team improve so much over the span of a week, and it makes me
excited to see what we can do in the spring” said Wotus.
It was a good start to the meet for the
girls and then the Sydnei Murphy party got started. Murphy competed in three
events: 55 meter dash, long jump, and the triple jump. In the 55m dash she was
the only girl to break seven seconds and she ran 6.95 in the finals, breaking
her own school record, and winning her first state title of the day. She was
far from done, though, as she went on to easily win the long jump (19-07) and
triple jump (39-10.5) capping off a dominating performance. “The 55m dash meant
the most because it was my first race I won at states ever, I set a PR, and I
was with all my friends so it was really fun” said Murphy.
Apex kept their dominance going in the
field events with the pole vault. With two of the best pole vaulters in the
state, senior Anna Eaton and junior Zoe Early, were aiming to win the event.
Eaton, who is a two-time state champ, set the state record and school record of
13-00 just last week, but had an off day on Saturday and vaulted 11-06, which
put her in third. That gave Early the opportunity to win her first state title.
“I was happily surprised,” said Early, “I wasn’t really focused on how I placed
I just wanted to vault well. I was really happy with how the day went.” Early
vaulted 12-00 to win the event. Between Early, Eaton, and Murphy Apex scored 46
points. That is unprecedented and simply incredible; however, the meet would
come down to one final event: the 4x400 meter relay.
Going in to the race Parkland had
already clinched the title, so the battle would be for second place. Apex had a
nine point lead on Cary and a ten point lead on Leesville; however, Cary and
Leesville had 4x400 relay teams and Apex did not. A Cary or Leesville win would
give them second place. Leesville jumped out to an early lead with Moreno, but
quickly fell behind and ended up fifth in the 4x400 and fourth overall in the
team scores. Cary and Parkland went back and forth the whole race and going
into the final leg, Cary had a substantial lead. As they came around for the
final lap, Cary’s anchor leg, Lakeisha Warner passed her teammates as they
erupted as it appeared she had an insurmountable lead with only 150 meters
remaining. What Cary and nobody else saw coming was what happened next.
Parkland’s senior Ebony Williams put it into high gear and started gaining
ground on Warner. As Williams chased down Warner the entire Apex track team was
in euphoria as if it was their own team. Williams caught and passed Warner just
before the finish line winning by sixth tenths of a second, giving Apex the
State runner-up trophy. Sydnei Murphy, who played a huge part in the second
place finish, said, “It was a great experience with amazing girls but we’re
looking forward to coming back in outdoor and aiming for first place.” As a
senior this finish meant a lot to Anna Eaton, ““Ever since I joined Apex Track,
I have loved being on a team of such awesome girls,” explained Eaton, “It feels
great to have finished second as a team especially by edging out some of our
very own SWAC competitors.” To go along
with the state runner-up, the NCHSAA always gives out a Sportsmanship Award and
this year it went to Eaton, “Winning the sportsmanship award meant a lot to me.
It is a good reminder to continue to work hard but more importantly be an
enthusiastic competitor and supportive teammate.”
