ROCKINGHAM — Through its first two meets of the season, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ track and field team has gotten off to a fast start.
The Raiders and head coach John Rich opened the season Thursday in a Sandhills Athletic Conference meet and followed that with the Golden Dash Relays Saturday.
Raiders rack up the points at Lee County
Using their first meet of the season as a qualifier for this past weekend’s invitational, the Raiders put on a show at Lee County Thursday.
Also competing in the tri-meet were the host Yellow Jackets and Scotland High School.
The Raiders blew out the competition, recording 253 points. Richmond recorded 11 first-place finishes (110 points), eight second-place marks (64 points), eight third-place finishes (48 points), six fourth-place spots (24 points), three fifth-place results (6 points) and one sixth-place finish (1 point).
Earning first place were: junior Keonta Pegues (200-meter dash, 22.68 seconds), junior Christian Surgent (400-meter dash, 55.55 seconds), junior Jason Gainey (800-meter run, 2:25.94), sophomore Hayden Smith (1600-meter run, 6:14.42), junior Jordan Hamilton (discus, 97’-5”) and sophomore Elijah Ingram (shot put, 40’-0.5”).
Sophomore Alijah Flowers had two first-place times in the 110-meter hurdles (19.59 seconds) and the 300-meter hurdles (48.33 seconds).
Three of Richmond’s relay teams also clinched first place. They were the 4x100-meter team (42.73 seconds), the 4x200-meter squad (1:36.88) and the 4x800-meter lineup (9:47.52).
Richmond swept the top three spots in six different events — the 200-meter dash, the 800-meter run, the 1600-meter run, the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles and the discus.
Those finishers in the first three events were junior Tyrese Collins (200-meter, 23.00 seconds) and freshman Ty Covington (200-meter, 23.02 seconds); junior Cameron Gladden (800-meter, 2:28.09) and senior James Coicou (800-meter, 2:36.55); freshman Elliot Samuel (1600-meter, 6:19.72) and freshman Jaron Gainey (1600-meter, 6:29.00).
Other sweeps were done by freshman Jonathan Leak (110-hurdles, 19.68 seconds) and sophomore Jeremy Lindsey (110-hurdles, 19.90 seconds); senior James Lewis (300-hurdles, 48.53 seconds) and Lindsey (300-hurdles, 49.71 seconds); and sophomore Jamaury Jones (discus, 93’-10”) and sophomore Jeremiah Covington (discus, 89’-0”).
Leak (5’-4”) and Lindsey (35’-1.5”) placed second in the high jump and triple jump, respectively. Placing third were senior Deshaun Ingram (100-meter, 11.80 seconds) and Jeremiah Covington (shot put, 36’-5”).
Fifth-place finish for Raiders at Golden Dash Relays
Two days later in their first invitational of the season at E.E. Smith High School, the Raiders placed fifth overall out of 22 teams with 39.5 points in the Golden Dash Relays.
The Raiders collected 16 points in relays, 10 points in hurdles, 8 points in throwing events, 4.5 points in sprints and 1 point in jumps.
Richmond’s 4x100-meter relay team of Pegues, Aaron Coleman, Ty Covington and Deshaun Ingram won its event and earned six points with a time of 42.73 seconds. That was 0.31 seconds faster than second-place Enloe High School.
Pegues, Covington, Collins and Travion Smith completed the 4x200-meter dash in 1:31.90 to take fourth place and add five more points. Richmond’s 4x400-meter team placed fifth (3:39.56, 4 points) and the 4x800-meter team was eighth (9:54.07, 1 point).
Coleman collected all of Richmond’s points in the hurdle events, placing first overall in the 110-meter race. He clocked in at 15.48 seconds for 10 points.
In throwing events, Jeremiah Covington (discus, 113’-3”) and Elijah Ingram (shot put, 41’-5”) both recorded fifth place and four points each.
The Raiders’ final points were collected by Pegues in the 100-meter dash (fifth place, 11.24 seconds) and long jump (eighth place, 18’-10.5”), and Ty Covington in the 200-meter dash (eighth place, 23.86 seconds).
The Richmond boys’ track and field team will compete in an SAC meet at Pinecrest High School Thursday. Events will start at 4 p.m.
