ROCKINGHAM — In action for their third Sandhills Athletic Conference meet of the spring, the Richmond boys’ and girls’ track and field teams impressed at home Wednesday afternoon.
The meet was the only home event slated for the Richmond teams this season, as they hosted fellow SAC opponents Jack Britt, Lumberton and Purnell Swett high schools. The Lady Raiders rolled to a first-place finish, their second top finish this spring, collecting 135.5 points to second-place Jack Britt’s 77.5.
On the Raiders’ side, Richmond placed second overall for the second meet in a row, racking up 75.25 points. Jack Britt took first place with a score of 107.75 points. Boy’s head coach Chris Campolieta was without one of his top runners, senior Preston Coker, who was out due to hamstring discomfort.
Between the two teams, Richmond had 16 first-place finishes.
The Lady Raider jumpers came through with a meet-high 33.5 points, and swept the first-place finishes in all three jump events. Senior Taliah Wall earned six points by jumping 14’-6” in the long jump, with teammates Jakerra Covington (13’-9”), Lashannon Dockery (13’-0”) and Korie Dawkins (12’-9”) taking third through fifth place for six combined points.
Wall grabbed a first-place finish in the triple jump, lunging out to a final distance of 31’-2”, and Dawkins (29’-1”) and Dockery (27’-9”) finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Covington topped the high jump competition, clearing the bar at 5’-2”.
In the relays and hurdles, the Lady Raiders picked up a 48 more combined points, seeing the 4×100-meter, 4×200-meter, 4×400-meter and 4×800-meter teams take first place (24 points).
Wall earned her team-leading third first-place finish of the afternoon with a time a 16.49 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles, besting Jack Britt’s Jada Cole (17.67 seconds). Sophomore Jamaya Bryant tied with Cole in the 300-meter hurdles with a time a 52.84 seconds, while also finishing third in the 100 hurdles (18.22 seconds).
The girls’ distance team saw junior Ariel Brown finish second in the 800-meter event (2:42), and take third in the 1600-meter (6:10). Fellow junior Analee Wyand was the lone Lady Raider to place in the 3200-meter haul, placing second with a time of 14:49.
Jardai Tillman (34’-8”), Janai Davis (31’-0”) and Tasheka Harrington (29’-4”) took the top three spots in the shot put, while Harrington (77’-0”) and Davionna Campbell (74’-3”) earned second and third place in the discus throw.
Other runners to get points for the girls’ team were Zymia McInnis (third, 800-meter), Kibreanna Stewart (fourth, 100 hurdles), I’liyah Hailey (third, 300 hurdles), Maddisyn Diggs (third, 100-meter), Dymond McNeal (second, 200-meter) and Sierra Ramsay (third, 400-meter).
In the boys’ competition, it was the Raiders’ sprinters who collected the most team points with 26. In the 100-meter dash, senior Malik Stanback took first overall (six points) with a time of 10.87 seconds, beating teammate and second-place finisher Jaheim Covington (11.13 seconds).
Also earning two points with a fourth-place finish in the event was D’Marcus Harrington (11.31 seconds).
Sophomore Dalton Stroman ran the competition in the 200-meter dash, finishing in 24.14 seconds, just .13 seconds faster than Jack Britt’s Tyler Williams. Fellow Raider Daryl Brown chipped in two points with a fourth-place finish (24.43).
In the open 400-meter sprint, sophomore Trevor Moss was the only Raider to earn points, racing to a first-place finish. He edged Lumberton’s Christopher Quick with a time of 53.48 seconds, over an entire second faster than the Pirate (54.53 seconds).
Campolieta’s second best crew on the day was the jumpers, who tallied 14.25 points, and the throwers added 11 more. Antron Miller, Xavier Pettigrew and Alex Quick finished in a four-way tie in the high jump with Jack Britt’s Terence Ellis, as all four cleared the bar at 5’-10” and took 3.75 points apiece.
Sophomore Caleb Hood and freshman Jamari Broady combined for three points in the long jump, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. Hood made it out to the 17’-2” mark, and Broady was just an inch behind him (17’-1”).
The Raider distance runners of Zacharia Hamilton (2:27), Joshua Wallace (2:27) and Dylan Lewis (2:28) placed third through fifth in the 800-meter run, the only distance points of the day.
In relay action, the top 4×100-meter team was disqualified, but Richmond’s second team earned first place with a time of 44.58 seconds, .32 seconds faster than Jack Britt. The Raider 4×200-meter relay team also won its event, posting a time of 1:35.
Notable finishes in the boys’ throwing were Jameek Harden’s top spot in shot put (40’-5”) and Joerail White’s third-place finish in discus (108’-11”).
“I think it was a good meet for a lot of our young guys,” Campolieta said. “We saw a lot of personal records on the track today from our freshman and sophomore class.
“We also have a lot of work to do,” he added. “We DQ’d in the 4×100 relay, and I think a lot of that is due to preparation and being ready to compete. I am happy with the way we have progressed so far this season, we just have to keep working on getting better every day.”
Both Richmond teams will be back in action Saturday at Union Pines High School in the Viking Relays. Events are slated to start at 9 a.m.
