Fort Mill and Indian Land High high schools brought home state champions from the 3A and 5A state track meet Saturday.
Fort Mill's Jessica Brewer won the state title in the pole vault after clearing 11 feet. She finished as a runner up last year, but Brewer knew she had more in her Saturday. However, she couldn't match her personal best of 12 feet, 2 inches.
“I am excited to win, even though it was not my best day,” Brewer said.
The junior will most likely have another chance next year.
Another junior, Brewer's sister, Anna, the only other Fort Mill athlete to qualify for the state meet, finished second in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 1:03.85.
Indian Land freshman Kaitlyn Rodman won the 1,600-meters in the 3A girls’ race for the second consecutive year for the Warriors with a time of 5:16.90. It was a race that afterwards, she seemed a bit surprised at winning.
“I am happy with the race I ran,” she said. “I am a little shocked. Winning it twice is amazing.”
About 90 minutes later, Rodman competed in the 800-meters, finishing sixth in 2:32.86.
The competition Saturday started with the 4x100 which featured Indian Land in the 3A finals and Nation Ford in the 5A finals. Nation Ford finished eighth at 49.77 and Indian Land sixth in 51.17.
Nation Ford's best finish in the state meet was a third place finish by junior Angelnique Bryant with 12.29 in the 100-meters. Eighth grader Katie Pou finished fourth in the 1,600-meters in the 5A classification with a time of 5:15.21. She also finished fifth in the 800-meters with a time of 2:25.00.
Indian Land had two single male competitors at the meet, the only local guys from the area. Junior Marlin Davis finished third in the 100-meters at 11.04 and third in the 200-meters in 22.04. The other male competitor for the Warriors was Malcom Reed, who finished fifth in the 400-meters in 50.08.
Junior Makalah Wallace finished seventh in the girls’ 100-meters at 13.62 for Indian Land. Seventh grader Empress Fitzgerald finished seventh in the 200-meters race for the Warriors with a time of 27.43.
The Warriors’ 4x400 relay teams both placed eighth in the event. The girls’ team ran 4:23.01 and the boys’ team ran 3:55.87.
On the first day of competition, senior Chynna Crawford of Nation Ford competed in the shot put and discus, finishing fourth with a throw of 37 feet, 6 inches and sixth with a throw of 108 feet, 5 inches, respectively. The Falcons’ girls also participated in the 4x800, finishing seventh in 10:11.50.
Also on Friday, Indian Land's Rodman finished third in the 3,200-meter race with a time of 11:44.10.
Overall, Indian Land’s girls came away with a 10th place finish in the standings as Bishop England won the 3A girls state championship. The Indian Land boys’ team finished 13th overall in the 3A championship standings. Hanahan was first.
Nation Ford finished eighth in the 5A girls’ standings and despite only have two athletes competing, Fort Mill’s girls finished 15th overall. Wando won the girls’ 5A state title.
Mac Banks: mbanks@comporium.net, @MacBanksFM
Comments