ROCKINGHAM – This Saturday, members of the Richmond Senior High School girls track team will visit John Williams Athletic Complex on the campus of Pinecrest High School for the third time this season.
Richmond competed in two Sandhills Athletic Conference meets during the season, but this time, there will be a lot more on the line – a trip to the state championship.
Eleven different Lady Raiders managed to run, throw, or jump their way into this weekend’s 4A Midwest Regional meet that will feature athletes from 19 schools. Richmond will compete in 11 of the meet’s 20 events. Here is a look at each of those events and how the Lady Raiders’ earned a position on Saturday’s lineup:
100-meter dash
Competing at Regionals – Monasia Kearns and Jakerra Covington
In the 100-meter dash, sophomore Monasia Kearns has hit the track in 10 of the 11 meets that Richmond has participated in. On April 12th, she earned her only first-place finish of the season with a time of 13.01 seconds at the fifth SAC meet hosted by Jack Britt High School at New Century Middle School in Fayetteville. Kearns’ time was her second best run in the event this season. She ran a 12.74 in the season opener held at Raider Stadium where she finished in second place, being narrowly edged out by Seventy-First’s Britney Chambers (12.64).
Despite only capturing the top honor in the event only once, Kearns managed a top-three finish in the 100-meter dash in all but one of the six conference meets. She finished sixth out of 30 in the SAC Championship meet held at UNC-Pembroke, took third place in the very competitive JJ Knox Classic at Eastern Alamance featuring runners from 15 different schools, and finished sixth at the Union Pines Viking Relays on March 31.
Freshman Jakerra Covington has hit the track following the conclusion of the junior varsity soccer season two weeks ago. Covington sprinted to an impressive fifth-place finish in the 100-meter dash at the SAC Championship meet and grabbed first-place honors at the Last Chance Meet held at Scotland High School last Wednesday. Her time of 12.5 seconds in Laurinburg is a team-best in the event this season.
Senior Harmony Jones also found some success in the 100-meter dash this season. She placed in the top five in three of the six conference meets this season, and actually won the event on her home track at Raider Stadium on March 22. She outran teammates Kearns and Dymond McNeal to the finish line recording her season best time of 12.84 seconds in the event.
200-meter dash
Competing at Regionals – Harmony Jones
In the 200-meter dash, the Lady Raiders set the tone for the season in their very first meet. Jones (26.34 seconds), Kearns (26.94 seconds), sophomore Mykala Oates (28.34 seconds), and junior Nyesia Covington (29.34 seconds) finished in the two through five positions, respectively. Jones and Kearns spent the rest of the regular season battling to be the team’s best finisher.
Jones finished in second place in two more SAC meets held in Southern Pines and Fayetteville, Kearns had third place finishes in the week two and three meets at Pinecrest and Richmond, but recorded an impressive first-place run in the event in the regular season finale at Pinecrest on April 19 with a time of 27.03 seconds. It was Kearns’ best time in the event since the season opener.
In the SAC Championship, Kearns took a back seat to teammates McNeal, sophomore Maddisyn Diggs, and Covington. McNeal led the Lady Raiders, finishing in third place with a time of 27.04 seconds. Diggs (27.23 seconds) took fifth place, Covington (27.27 seconds) crossed the line in sixth place, and Kearns’ time of 27.52 seconds resulted in a 10th-place finish.
400-meter dash
Competing at Regionals – Dymond McNeal
Unfortunately, the Lady Raiders haven’t found as much success in the 400-meter dash. The best time of the season came from Jones who recorded a time of 1:03.69 in a second-place finish at the final regular season conference meet at Pinecrest. Sophomore Sierra Ramsey also earned a second-place finish this season in the event at Raider Stadium in March with a time of 1:04.04.
McNeal will be representing the Lady Raiders on Saturday, and although she has been inconsistent in the event throughout the season, she has found some success. She had three top-five finishes in the six SAC meets and turned in her season best time of 1:03.90 in the SAC Championship.
100-meter hurdles
Competing at Regionals – Taliah Wall and Kibreeana Stewart
Junior Taliah Wall has been one of the most consistently successful members of the Lady Raiders’ track team this season. In the six regular-season conference meets, Wall claimed five first-place finishes in the 100-meter hurdles and took second place in the other. Wall, who holds the school record for fastest time in this event when she posted a run of 15.70 seconds last season, finished at least a full second ahead of all others in four of her five winning runs.
Veronique Woodson of Hoke County High School is the only runner to finish ahead of Wall at a conference meet. She outran Wall in the week four meet at Hoke and then edged out Wall in the SAC Championship at Pembroke. Wall’s best time this season was 16.14 seconds recorded in her season opening win at Richmond.
Sophomore teammate Kibreeana Stewart also found success in the 100-meter hurdles. Stewart finished in second behind Wall in three of the five conference meets that she participated in. She finished fourth and fifth in the final two regular season meets and raced to a sixth-place finish in the SAC Championship.
4×100 and 4×200-meter relays
Competing at Regionals – Harmony Jones, Maddisyn Diggs, Monasia Kearns and Jakerra Covington
Sprinters Jones, Diggs, Kearns and Covington will combine their individual speeds to compete in both the 100 and 200-meter relays. Although there have been different combinations of runners throughout the season, overall, Richmond has performed well in these events. The Lady Raiders won five of the six regular season conference meets in the 100-meter relay and earned top honors at the SAC Championship. They also raced to third-place finishes in the JJ Knox Classic and Union Pines Viking Relays.
In the 200-meter relay, the Lady Raiders crossed the finish line first in four of the six conference meets. They also had an impressive second-place finish at the JJ Knox Classic, finishing one second behind East Chapel Hill High School.
4×400-meter relay
Competing at Regionals – Harmony Jones, Brianauna Wall, Dymond McNeal, and Monasia Kearns
Sophomore Brianauna Wall will join Jones, McNeal and Kearns for the 400-meter relay. Wall represented Richmond consistently in another event, competing in eight of the nine meets that featured the 400-meter dash. Wall’s best finish in the open 400 was in the season opener at Richmond where she finished third with a time of 1:10.54. Her best time was a 1:07.24 in a fourth-place finish at Richmond just two weeks later.
As a team, the Lady Raiders have not performed all that well in the 4×400, but many meets featured very little competition in the event. With this talented lineup of runners, the Lady Raiders are looking to make a strong showing against the 14 other schools that will be vying for that top spot at Pinecrest on Saturday.
Shot Put
Competing at Regionals – Tasheka Harrington and Janai Davis
In the shot put, junior Janai Davis has competed well in conference meets this season. She finished in the top five in five of this season’s six SAC meets, including a first-place toss at Richmond on March 22. At the Bill Carver Classic at Reid Ross School in Fayetteville, Davis had her season-best throw of 32’-2”, which earned her a fifth-place finish out of 40 competitors.
Fellow junior Tasheka Harrington gradually became one of the conference’s most consistent 30-foot shot putters. In the week four meet at Hoke County, Harrington’s 30’-1” throw earned her a first-place finish. She followed that up with a 30’-9” throw the very next week in Fayetteville, landing her in second place behind teammate Crystal Johnson. Harrington led the Lady Raiders in the SAC Championship meet with a throw of 30’-7”.
High Jump
Competing at Regionals – Kibreeana Stewart
Stewart has proven week in and week out that she is one of the best in the region in the high jump. She competed in the event at five of the six SAC meets, finishing in the top three in each of them and winning twice. Her 4’-10” jump in the SAC Championships narrowly landed her in second behind Jack Britt’s Tyne Haverkate. Stewart also had the third place leap at the Union Pines Viking Relays. After clearing the bar consistently at the 4’-10” mark throughout the season, Stewart was finally able to reach her season best with a 5’ leap at the Last Chance Meet at Scotland High School last week.
Long Jump
Competing at Regionals – Taliah Wall
Wall did not compete in the long jump in the SAC season-opener at Richmond, but dominated the event over the course of the next few weeks. In the week two meet at Pinecrest, she leapt full two feet farther than teammate Keionna Love, who finished in second. In week three, she took first-place honors on her home track, outjumping Dawkins, who finished in second, by a foot. After a third-place finish in Hoke County a week later, she achieved her season best of 16’-3” inches a week later in a win at New Century Middle School.
Triple Jump
Competing at Regionals – Kibreeana Stewart, Taliah Wall, Korie Dawkins
For the most part, Stewart has competed in more triple jump events than any other Lady Raider this season. She claimed a top-three finish in three out of the four conference meets that she competed in, and finished fourth in the SAC Championship. Stewart also had the best jump in last week’s Last Chance Meet at Scotland High School.
Wall did not compete in the triple jump at an SAC meet until week five when she hopped, skipped and jumped her way into a first-place finish. She finished the season with a second-place finish at Pinecrest and a third place jump at the SAC Championship.
Dawkins’ 32’-6” jump in week one was enough to earn her first place in the season opener at Raider Stadium. Her week one leap was also her longest of the season.
