CARY, N.C. — Three members of the Richmond Senior High School boys’ track and field team punched their tickets to the state championship on Saturday.
Senior Emerson Wall, junior Tyrene Stanback and sophomore Aaron Coleman all posted a top-four finish during the NCHSAA 4A Mideast regional meet at Green Level High School.
In addition to those results, Richmond had five other top-12 finishes in a field of 23 teams. Jordan High School (65 points) won the team regional championship.
Coleman and Stanback had the best individual finishes for the Raiders, securing their trip to states with a third-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles and the high jump, respectively.
Sprinting to a time of 15.16 seconds, he was behind a pair of runners from Hillside High School. Taking first and second were Desmond Smith (14.36 seconds) and Matthew Smith (14.37 seconds).
Stanback was one of three jumpers to clear the bar at 6 feet, 2 inches. He was joined by Christopher Mulder (Gray’s Creek, second) and Chase Hunter (East Chapel Hill, fourth) and was awarded third based on the number of attempts.
Wall became the third Raider to join the caravan to states, launching out to a distance of 43 feet, 10 inches in the triple jump. That fourth-place mark iced his spot by 2.75 inches, edging fellow Sandhills Athletic Conference jumper William Leak (Hoke County).
Winning the high jump was Pinecrest’s Shaun Thomas (6 feet, 8 inches) and Mulder took the triple jump (45 feet, 4 inches).
Coleman and senior Taye Spencer accounted for a pair of top-eight finishes. In the 300-meter hurdles, Coleman paced his way to a time of 41.30 seconds, good enough for sixth place. He missed the cut by 1.72 seconds.
Running the open 100-meter dash, Spencer clocked in at 11.31 seconds and eighth place. Michael Beatty (Middle Creek) was the fourth-place qualifier at 11.07 seconds.
Stanback and freshman Keonta Pegues both secured 11th place in the triple jump and the 100-meter dash. Stanback’s distance was 40 feet, 11.5 inches and Pegues sprinted the race in 11.48 seconds.
Spencer’s effort in the shot put yielded a 12th-place distance of 41 feet, 9.75 inches.
The Raiders’ 4×100-meter relay team had a lead going into the final stretch of the race, but an infraction led to a disqualification and halted the team’s chance at trying to repeat as regional champs.
Coleman, Stanback and Wall will compete in the NCHSAA 4A state championship at North Carolina A&T State University on Saturday.
