It’s the THIRD consecutive state title, 19th altogether
By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Another long day for members of the Cummings girls’ track and field team produced the desired result.
The Cavaliers are state champions again, capturing the Class 2-A team championship Saturday at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro.
By late in the meet, longtime coach Donnie Davis knew the math.
“We’re in good shape,” he said.
Indeed, the Cavaliers ended up with 91 points compared to runner-up High Point Andrews’ 46. It’s the third state title in a row and 19th outdoor crown overall for the Cummings girls.
Junior D’Anna Cotton won three events and was named the meet’s Most Outstanding Performer for the second May in a row.
Davis appreciated the determination from the Cavaliers.
“As much as they have to do in a day is a load,” he said, pointing out that for this meet the key is using a lineup that can collect points. “This is about trying to win the state championship.”
So the Cavaliers didn’t use Cotton in the long jump, instead she won the 300 hurdles, high jump and triple jump.
Cotton set top marks in the high jump at 5 feet, 4 inches and in the triple jump at 40-3. Diamond Moore of Cummings was fourth in the triple jump (36-9) and teammate Brooke Packingham was fifth (36-6).
Cotton won the 300 hurdles in 43.39 seconds, with Packingham fourth in 45.80.
Kaili Payne, a Cummings freshman, had three medals hanging around her neck for first place in the 100 hurdles, second in the long jump and part of the third-place 400 relay.
“The best part was the 100 hurdles because my start was really, really bad and I came back,” Payne said. “I didn’t think it was going to happen.”
Payne’s time of 14.24 seconds edged Cotton (14.33), who was the defending champion in the event. The order didn’t surprise Davis.
“They practice together every day,” Davis said. “It was just a matter of who’s going to be there on that day. They both ran really good times.”
Cummings appeared set for a larger point total in the hurdles, but Packingham fell after striking the final hurdle and finished seventh (good for two team points).
The Cavaliers racked up 20 points in the long jump, with Moore winning at 17-9¼, Payne next at 17-6 and Packingham sixth at 17-½. Based on seeds, Cummings wouldn’t have scored any points in the long jump.
“It made up for anything we didn’t do,” Davis said.
Payne said the Cavaliers are accustomed to excelling in sizable meets, so they just did their thing.
“It kind of feels like a regular meet,” she said. “My teammates were the biggest competition I had.”
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Nazaiah Hatfield, Honesti Trollinger and Moore joined Payne on the 400 relay, which ran in 49.20.
Cummings athletes completed their competition about seven hours after the start of the meet. Then they waited around to collect their awards.
- Southeast Alamance’s Janay Pegram placed third in the 100 (12.19) and the 200 (25.18).
“It’s exciting,” Pegram said. “Last year, I got sixth (and fifth), and now as a sophomore to get third place in both.”
Pegram said she’s boosted by positive vibes from family looking on.
“I’m here as a sophomore and they’re encouraging me and I know I’ve got the support,” Pegram said.
The Stallions ended sixth in the 800 relay (1:46.67) with Geneva Ricketts, Aysha Howell, Chloe Torain and Pegram and they were seventh in the 400 relay (50.53) with Torain, Howell, Reagan Brooks and Pegram.
Ricketts was 11th in the 400 in 1:05.12.
- Also in Class 2-A girls, Mebane resident Catherine Parker of North Carolina School of Science and Math repeated as a two-time individual winner. She repeated as state titlist in the 1,600 in 5:05.95 and the 3,200 in 11:22.52, while she also was a member of the champion 3,200 relay.
- For the boys, Southeast’s Marquis Burnette placed third in the 100 in 10.91 seconds. He was 13th in the 200 in 24.02.
Bartlett Yancey’s Dalleon Johnson had the fourth-best triple jump at 44-¾ and the eighth-best long jump at 20-7.
Class 3-A
Jaeden Smith of Williams was the runner-up in the long jump in Friday’s state championships.
Smith’s leap of 22-4¾ was short of only West Carteret’s Jasiah Jones (23-5½).
Two Western Alamance boys’ relays claimed third place.
In the 400 relay, the group Colten Hill, William Clinkscales, Kylon Richardson and James Newton claimed third place in 41.82 seconds. The Warriors were behind only Greensboro Dudley (40.84) and Statesville (41.25).
In the 800 relay, the quartet of Newton, Clinkscales, Richardson and Marqua Shealey Sims posted a time of 1:28.06, trailing only Statesville (1:26.01) and Jacksonville (1:27.22).
Southern Alamance was last of 16 entries in the 400 relay in 44.14 with Jayden Brown, Brian Scott Patterson, Tyler Carter and Kater Cornwell.
Newton ran 10.91 in the 100 preliminaries and didn’t qualify for the finals (needing 10.87 to do so).
Thai Meeler of Southern Alamance ended up 13th in the 110 hurdles in 15.55 seconds.
Among area girls, Taliyha Brown of Western was sixth in the 100 in 12.10 seconds.
Western’s 400 relay of Sydnie Graves, Jada Webb, Ava Mitchell and Brown was 10th in 50.33.
Ava Childress of Williams had the 12th-best time in the 800 in 2:25.52.
