GREENSBORO — Some of the fastest and strongest high school track and field athletes converged on North Carolina A&T University’s Irwin Belk track Saturday in the NCHSAA 4A state championship meet.
Among them were nine Richmond Senior High School competitors, four representing the Lady Raider team and five for the boys’ team. While none of them won an individual or relay state championship, Richmond’s athletes put forth a strong showing to bring the spring sports season to a close.
The most successful group was the Lady Raider 4×100-meter relay team, which took fourth place in the event. The quartet of sophomore Jakerra Covington and juniors Maddisyn Diggs, Monasia Kearns and Dymond McNeal also broke a school state meet record by finishing in 48.60 seconds.
That time was just 0.46 seconds behind third-place finisher Ronald Reagan High School (48.14 seconds). With the finish, Covington, Diggs, Kearns and McNeal received a medal and also made the All-State team, as do all top-four finishers in each event.
“The 4×100 relay girls showed they are one of the top four relays in the state,” Lady Raider head coach Reggie Miller said. “They will be competing in the New Balance Nationals in June and have a chance to become high school All-Americans.”
Southeast Raleigh High School won the state championship in the girls’ 4×100-meter relay, circling the track in 46.11 seconds.
Covington was the lone Richmond female athlete to compete in a solo event, finishing tied for 12th in the high jump. She cleared the bar at 5’-0”, which was 10 inches lower than state champion Morgan Smalls (Panther Creek High School).
“Jakerra did a great job in the high jump,” Miller noted. “She worked hard all year and it was well deserved to represent the Sandhills Athletic Conference in the state championship.”
The same four Lady Raider runners who took fourth in the 4×100 relay also competed in the 4×200-meter relay. Although they didn’t finish nearly as high, Covington, Diggs, Kearns and McNeal took 13th overall with a time of 1:44.09.
On the boys’ side, head coach Chris Campolieta’s Raider 4×100-meter relay team put together the best finish of the three events Richmond’s boys competed in.
The foursome of seniors Preston Coker and Malik Stanback, along with junior Jaheim Covington and sophomore Caleb Hood, placed eighth overall with a time of 42.25 seconds. The Raiders were just 0.02 and 0.03 seconds off from taking sixth place, as West Mecklenburg and East Forsyth high schools finished just ticks ahead of them.
Coker was one of two Raiders to compete in an individual event, as the future college sprinter took sixth overall in the 200-meter dash. His time of 22.09 seconds was just behind fellow SAC runner Jadarien Parker (Hoke County High School, 22.06 seconds).
Also competing for Richmond was junior high jumper Antron Miller, but he failed to make height and did not place.
“It’s always a great opportunity to compete at the state level,” Campolieta said. “We didn’t accomplish our goals of winning the events we were in, but at the end of the day, we had a great time together as a group.
“We didn’t have the season we wanted, but we competed to the best of our ability,” he added. “The teamwork was great and the lifelong friendships that were built are even better.”
Last season, the Raiders’ 4×100-meter relay team of Coker, Standback and former Raiders Jaleen Baldwin and Dante Miller won the 4A state title with a time of 41.46 seconds. But an exchange infraction wiped the would-be title away.
The New Balance Nationals will be held in Greensboro on June 14 and 15.
