SOUTHERN PINES — It was a strong showing for the Richmond Senior High School boys’ track and field team at Wednesday’s regular season finale.
Competing in the Sandhills Athletic Conference championship meet at Pinecrest High School, the Raiders notched a third-place finish out of seven teams. Richmond finished the meet with 135.5 points.
Taking home the championship were the host Patriots with 226 points, followed by second-place Union Pines High School (142 points).
Richmond finished ahead of third-place Hoke County (94 points), fifth-place Lee County (33 points), sixth-place Southern Lee (23 points) and seventh-place Scotland (22.5 points) high schools.
While they missed the team championship, the Raiders managed to bring home three individual event conference titles, as well as a trio of second-place finishes.
Racking up the points for Richmond were four third-place performances and seven fourth-place results.
Senior Aaron Coleman shined in his two individual events, winning both the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles races while setting meet records in both dashes.
Coleman ran the 110-meter hurdles in 14.20 seconds, more than a full second faster than runner-up Sincere McCargo (Union Pines, 15.33 seconds). Head coach John Rich reported that Coleman’s time was the second-fastest in program history behind Tony Horne.
In the 300-meter dash, Coleman really distanced himself from his opponents with a meet record time of 39.47 seconds. The next fastest runner was Scotland’s Anthony Pate, who crossed the finish line in 43.02 seconds.
Richmond’s other conference crown performance came courtesy of the 4x200-meter dash team. Passing the baton around the track in 1:28.20 were senior Deshaun Ingram, junior Christian Surgent, junior Amer Morrison and freshman Ty Covington.
The foursome’s time was nearly two seconds faster than runner-up Lee County (1:30.10).
Junior Domonic Tillman (high jump) and sophomore Elijah Ingram (shot put) recorded two of Richmond’s three runner-up spots. The other second-place finish was accomplished by the 4x100-meter relay team.
Tillman cleared the bar at 6’-1”, two inches shy of winner Wendell Wells of Pinecrest (6’-3”). In the shot put, Ingram’s longest toss was 45’-8”, nearly catching up with conference champion Jaydon Wright (Southern Lee, 47’-7”).
Covington, Coleman and juniors Jayden Hamilton and Keonta Pegues made up the 4x100-meter relay team which finished in 41.74 seconds. The four Raiders trailed only Pinecrest (41.61 seconds). Rich noted it was the third-fastest time in school history.
Pegues and Tillman each brought in one of the team’s four third-place times. In the 100-meter dash, Pegues finished in 11.02 seconds and Tillman ran the 110-meter hurdles in 15.76 seconds.
Junior Jordan Hamilton tossed the discus 113’-8” for the other solo third-place mark. Richmond’s 4x400-meter team recorded a time of 3:39.70 to also place third overall.
Covington added to his impressive day with a pair of fourth-place times in the 100-meter (11.08 seconds) and 200-meter (22.51 seconds) dashes. Morrison was fourth in the open 400-meter dash with a time of 50.92 seconds.
Also adding more points in another event were Jayden Hamilton (long jump) and Tillman (triple jump). Both finishing fourth, Hamilton landed at 21’-2” and Tillman recorded a distance of 43’-4”.
Rounding out the top performances at the meet were sophomore Alijah Flowers (300-meter hurdles, 43.92 seconds) and the 4x800-meter relay team (10:12.33). Both of those times were also good enough for fourth place.
Senior Elijah Shaw competed in the inclusion events and impressed with two wins for conference titles and one second-place time.
Shaw won the 100-meter inclusion dash with a time of 12.12 seconds and also won the open 200-meter inclusion race, clocking in at 26.08 seconds.
His final event was the 400-meter inclusion dash, which resulted in a second-place time of 1:09.92.
The Raiders will prepare for the NCHSAA 4A Mideast regional meet, which will be held at Green Hope High School May 10.
