ROCKINGHAM — A rain-shortened home meet resulted in a big victory for the Richmond Senior High School girls’ track and field team last Thursday.
Hosting their only home meet of the season, the Lady Raiders competed against Sandhills Athletic Conference opponents Hoke County, Southern Lee and Union Pines high schools.
Also competing were non-conference teams from Albemarle and Father Vincent Capodanno high schools.
The Lady Raiders ran away with the win, securing 133 points.
Richmond’s biggest chunk of points came in the shot put (28 points) and 100-meter dash (26 points).
The Lady Raiders took the top four spots in the shot put, led by freshman Zarriahnna Ray and her 10 points thanks to a first-place throw of 31’-8”.
Taking second place was freshman Glenisha Thomas (31’-5”, 8 points). Third place and six points went to junior Emma Williams, who threw a new personal record of 27’-5.5”. Rounding out the top four was junior Skyler Collins (25’-8.5”, 4 points).
Richmond also took the top three times in the open 100-meter race, as well as fifth place. Winning the finals heat was senior Amariah Gibson with a time of 12.50 seconds for 10 points.
Freshman Amoni McNeil was second (12.80 seconds, 8 points), junior Taylor Newton placed third (13.13 seconds, 6 points) and sophomore Janie Walden was fifth (13.47 seconds, 2 points).
Both of the Lady Raiders relay teams in action took first place and combined for another 20 points. The 4x100-meter relay team finished in 50.30 seconds and the 4x200-meter squad passed the baton in 1:48.00, a season-best time.
Across three different jumping events, Richmond added another 32 points, including 14 points in the long jump. Junior Ka’mora Watkins won the long jump (10 points) with a distance of 16’-4”. Sophomore Tanaja Harrison added the other four points with a fourth-place mark of 14’-5”.
Watkins and Harrison combined for 12 points in the triple jump. Taking second place with eight points was Watkins (32’-2”) and Harrison added four points in fourth place (31’-3”).
A fifth-place finish by Watkins in the high jump (4’-6”) and a sixth-place distance of 28’-7” in the triple jump by senior Anayjah Dumas rounded out the points in jumping events.
The final big chunk of points came in the discus, which secured 15 points for the Lady Raiders. Collins was second overall (78’-7”, 8 points), followed by junior Ella Parker in third place (75’-9”, 6 points) and Williams in sixth with another PR in the event (71’-4.5”, 1 point).
The team’s final 14 points were scattered across three events. Freshman Duraysia McDonald had six points with a third-place time of 1:07.26 in the 400-meter dash.
Dumas (18.09 seconds) and freshman Chrislynn Culley (18.23 seconds) placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 100-meter hurdles to combine for six points. Emily Domiguez ran the 1600-meter race in 6:39.13 for fifth place and two points.
The Lady Raiders will compete once more before spring break. A meet will be held at Hoke County High School Thursday. Events will start at 5 p.m.
