-
Maroon Devils at JDL Fast Track Saturday -
Lady Devils at JDL Fast Track Saturday
Larry Griffin
lgriffin@thesmokymountaintimes.com
The Swain County Maroon Devils and Lady Devils track and field teams, in spite of recent delays due to cold weather, have continued adding up new records.
Coach Keith Payne said they’re also working on qualifying more athletes for upcoming state meets.
At the JDL Fast Track last Saturday, Jan. 20 at Winston-Salem, Payne said they’d had a satisfying meet. “It was such a fast meet. It was probably one of the fastest meets of the year.”
In particular he singled out Arizona Blankenship, who did a good enough job in the 3200 meter run that she’s now 53rd in the entire nation.
But he wasn’t one to let her think she’d reached the peak of her potential. “I think she’s got room to improve,” he said.
Nse Uffort also got a new personal record in the shot put, Payne said.
The girls’ 4x800 relay team, which consisted of Blankenship, Angel Lomelli, Annie Lewis and Emily Gray Stargell, got a new school record, finishing in 10:04.8.
The teams had another meet at home on Wednesday, Jan. 24 after press time. Payne said they were looking ahead to the upcoming SMC Championship meet, scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 31, and the NCHSAA State Championship scheduled for Feb. 9 and 10 in Winston-Salem.
“We want to qualify some of the boys in the 1000 meter,” Payne said. “We want to get a couple of girls in the 300 meter. The girls need to qualify for the 4x200 meter. We’re looking at that over the next two weeks, to get them qualified.”
Qualifiers from
JDL Fast Track
Faith Woodard …shot put
Nse Uffort …shot put
Gracie Sutton …high jump
Kane Jones…3200 meter, 500, 4x800, 4 x 400
Abhi Patel…4x800, 4x400, 1000 meter
Connor Lambert…4x800, 4x400
Connor Brown…4x800
Arizona Blankenship…3200 meter, 1600 meter, 4x800, 4x400
Angel Lomeli…1000 meter, 1600 meter, 3200 meter, 4x400, 4x800
Annie Lewis… 1000 meter, 4x400, 4x800, 3200 meter
Emily Gray Stargell…1000 meter, 3200 meter, 4x800