ROCKINGHAM — Coming down to the last few events, Thursday’s Sandhills Athletic Conference track and field meet was decided by just nine points.
The Richmond Raiders earned the victory in their second meet of the season, collecting 76 points, just ahead of Hoke County High School (67 points).
Also competing was Southern Lee High School, which placed third with a tally of 21 points. The win marked the Raiders’ first meet win of the spring after finishing second last week.
The Raiders collected a majority of their points in jumping events (22 points), sprints (17 points) and relays (16 points), while Hoke County picked up most of its points in the distance, hurdles and relay events for a combined 47 points.
The top four finishers in each event recorded points and the Raiders had five first-place winners (25 points). Richmond added eight second-place marks (24 points), 11 third-place finishes (22 points) and had six fourth-place tallies (6 points).
Richmond won the 4×200-meter relay race with a time of 1:33.56, more than three seconds faster than Hoke County (1:37.26). Helping the team to the win were Keonta Pegues, Aaron Coleman, Emoni McBride and Taye Spencer.
Also taking first was the 4×100-meter crew, passing the baton in the lap around the track in 43.69 seconds. Those runners were Pegues, Coleman, Jamarion Bryant and Spencer.
The Raiders’ three other first-place marks were earned in individual events.
Coleman won the 110-meter hurdles (14.69 seconds), Ahaiver McDonald cleared the high jump at 6 feet, 2 inches for the win and Tyrene Stanback helped sweep the triple jump standings with a distance of 36 feet, 5 inches.
Earning all of the possible 11 points in the triple jump, Emerson Wall (35 feet, 9 inches), McDonald (35 feet, 7 inches) and Chamaure Shaw (34 feet, 6 inches) took second through fourth, respectively.
Stanback was just behind McDonald in the high jump, taking second overall with a height of 6 feet, 0 inches.
Richmond placed second, third and fourth in two other events — the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes.
In the open 100, Pegues was second (11.13 seconds) behind Southern Lee’s Kayden McLean (10.89 seconds). Taking third and fourth were Bryant (11.14 seconds) and Deshaun Ingram (11.16 seconds).
Adding six more points in the 200-meter sprint were Emoni McBride (23.62 seconds), Linden Garcia (23.70 seconds) and Ingram (24.15 seconds).
Placing second was the 4×800-meter relay team (9:31.00), made up of Jemell Bingham, James Coicou, Adam Brown and Cameron Gladden. Also second was Richmond’s “B” team in the 4×100-meter relay (45.16 seconds).
The Raiders placed second and third in both the shot put and 400-meter race. Urijah McDonald (38 feet, 6 inches) and Spencer (38 feet, 1 inch) placed in the shot put, and Jordan Bostick (57.13 seconds) and Dillon Veach (58.53 seconds) did well in the open 400.
Adding two points each with third-place results were Bingham (2:22.91, 800-meter), Tillman (16.45 seconds, 110-meter hurdles), Ali Tyson (52.65 seconds, 300-meter hurdles) and Coicou (5:37.66, 1600-meter).
Rounding out Richmond’s scoring were a pair of third and fourth-place finishes in the discus and long jump.
Damon Bryant, throwing in a pair of cowboy boots, placed third in the discus with a final launch of 104 feet, 7 inches, followed by Urijah McDonald (103 feet, 4 inches).
Tillman landed at 17 feet, 4.5 inches in the long jump, and Stanback picked up another top-four finish with a jump of 17 feet, 3 inches.
Richmond will compete again next Thursday at Southern Lee High School, starting at 4 p.m.
Also competing at Thursday’s meet were sophomore A.J. Pogoncheff and junior Loranda Quicksey, both of Southern Lee High School.
Participating in track and field for their first season, they are a part of the Unified Track Team “where those with and without disabilities compete on the same team.”
Former Richmond student-athlete Hailey Miller (class of 2020) is the Unified Track Team manager for Special Olympics North Carolina, and is helping coach Pogoncheff and Quicksey this spring.
Both ran the 200-meter dash on Thursday, with Pogoncheff finishing in 31.91 seconds and Quicksey crossing the finish line in 34.59 seconds.
