CAMERON, N.C. — Thursday’s Sandhills Athletic Conference meet not only saw the Richmond Senior High School girls’ track and field team take first place, but a 31-year-old program record was broken in the process.
Head coach Reggie Miller was pleased to announce that his current 4×200-meter relay team crushed the former record (1:42.85), which was set in 1988. Lady Raiders Dymond McNeal, Monasia Kearns, Breanna Wall and Maddisyn Diggs breezed to first place and the new record, over two seconds faster, which is now 1:40.60.
Sophomore high jumper Jakerra Covington also had a career day, while tying the Richmond program record in the same event. Covington cleared the bar at 5’-6”, which was a personal best.
Competing against SAC opponents Jack Britt, Pinecrest and Scotland high schools, the Lady Raiders rolled to a first-place finish with 130 points. The second-place finisher, Jack Britt, was 82 points behind with 48 points.
Of the six categories (sprints, distance, hurdles, relay, throwing and jumping), Richmond scored at least 15 points in each of them. The jumpers scored a meet-high 30 points, while the hurdlers, relayers and throwers each collected a meet-high 22 points.
The Lady Raiders notched an impressive nine first-place finishes. They also swept the top three spots in the 100-meter hurdles, shot put and long jump.
In the long jump, junior Allexis Swiney, sophomore Korie Dawkins and Covington took first through third, respectively. Swiney jumped 15’-2”, Dawkins was an inch behind her and Covington came in at 14’-8”.
The shot put trio of junior Jardai Tillman, senior Tasheka Harrington and sophomore Davionna Campbell also notched 13 total points. Tillman led all throwers with a distance of 31’-10”, followed by Harrington (30’-10”) and Campbell (28’-9”). Senior teammate Janai Davis took fourth with a throw of 28’-8”.
The final sweep came in the 100-meter hurdles, seeing junior Kibreeana Stewart win the event in 17.2 seconds. Sophomore Jamaya Bryant (18.7 seconds) and freshman Jaleah McKinnon (19.1 seconds) took second and third, respectively.
Covington added a first-place finish in the 100-meter dash (12.6 seconds), beating Scotland’s Sanya Lacue by a one-tenth of a second (12.7 seconds). Diggs placed fourth in the same event, racing to a 12.8 second mark.
The 4×200-meter relay team’s first-place time of 1:40.6 was not only the new school record, but it was nearly nine seconds faster than second-place Jack Britt (1:49.5). The 4×100-meter relay team also won (49.4 seconds), edging Scotland by eight-tenths of a second (50.2 seconds).
Rounding out the relays was the 4×400-meter team, which posted an impressive time of 4:31.2. That was just two-tenths of a second slower than beating Jack Britt by a walloping 11 seconds (4:42.0).
Richmond added six additional second-place finishes, starting with Stewart in the triple jump (32’-6”). Dawkins was fourth in the same event, leaping out 30’-5”. McKinnon took second in the 300-meter hurdles, racing to a time of 52.5 seconds, with Bryant (54.2 seconds) and freshman I’liyah Hailey (54.4 seconds) taking third and fourth.
Freshman Taliyah Cobb found second-place success in the 800-meter run, posting a time of 2:55.3. Sophomore Zamiya McInnis followed in third (2:58.0). The 4×800-meter relay team was just behind winner Jack Britt (11:13.5) with a time of 11:18.7.
Junior Ariel Brown took second in the 1600-meter run, crossing the finish like in 5:56.7. McInnis placed fifth in the event (7:02.7). Freshman Rayana Shubert impressed in the discus throw, hurling her discus to a mark of 90’-10” for second place.
Other notable finishes on the day included: Stewart (third, high jump), Dawkins (fourth, high jump), Kearns (third, 200-meter dash), Aniya Robinson (fourth, 200-meter dash), Campbell (fourth, discus), Harrington (fifth, discus) and Analee Wyand (fourth, 3200-meter run).
Miller and the Lady Raiders will compete in their final regular-season SAC meet on Wednesday at Hoke County High School. Other teams in action will be Hoke County, Pinecrest and Purnell Swett high schools. Events start at 4 p.m.
