WAXHAW — The postseason hardware was plentiful for the Richmond Senior High School boys’ track and field team at Saturday’s regional championship.
Competing in a dozen events at the 7A Central regional title meet held at Cuthbertson High School, the Raiders automatically qualified for states in six events.
Richmond had three relay teams and five individuals qualify for the state championship later this week – senior Keonta Pegues (two events), senior Domonic Tillman, senior Tyrese Collins, junior Elijah Ingram and sophomore Ty Covington.
The three relays to keep their season alive were the 4x100-meter, 4x200-meter and 4x400-meter relay teams.
Pegues finished the meet as the regional champion in the long jump. His best attempt landed him at a final distance of 22 feet, 1 inch, a full three inches ahead of second-place jumper Matthew Henry (Cary High School).
Richmond’s other two regional titles belonged to the 4x100-meter and 4x200-meter relay teams.
Winning the 4x100 title with a time of 41.80 seconds were Pegues, seniors Tyrese Collins and Amer Morrison, and sophomore Ty Covington. That time was nearly a half-second faster than second-place Reagan High School (42.26 seconds).
Equally as impressive, the 4x200 relay team of Collins, Morrison, Pegues and senior Christian Surgent won the regional title with a final time of 1:27.33. The four Raiders edged Southwest Guilford (1:27.50) for the win.
Pegues also notched a regional runner-up finish in the 100-meter dash, clocking in at 10.72 seconds. He finished just behind event winner Owen Gray (Cary, 10.60 seconds).
Qualifying for states for the first time in his career was Covington in the 110-meter hurdles. He was Richmond’s other runner-up performer (14.39 seconds), just 0.36 seconds behind winner Justin White (Page High School).
The Raiders’ third individual qualifier was senior Domonic Tillman, who placed third overall in the triple jump. He landed at a final mark of 44 feet, 0.75 inches.
Richmond had four fifth-place finishes, which head coach John Rich explained could make the state championship as a wildcard.
With four open wildcard spots in each event this season, the final four spots will be filled by the four closest finishers in each event from the three regional championships.
Those to place fifth for Richmond and qualify for states as wildcard entries were the 4x400-meter relay team, Collins and Ingram.
Finishing the 4x400-meter relay in 3:38.83 were Surgent, Covington, Morrison and freshman alternate Damarion Allen (running for Collins)
Collins did so in the triple jump (43 feet, 3 inches) and Ingram landed his furthest attempt in the shot put at 50 feet, 6 inches to continue his state championship hopes. Senior Jayden Hamilton also qualified as an alternate on the 4x100-meter relay team.
Other top placers for the Raiders were Surgent in the 400-meter dash, where he placed sixth with a time of 50.44 seconds. Junior Jeremiah Covington was seventh in the discus, roughly a dozen feet shy of making the top four (128 feet, 8 inches).
The NCHSAA 7A and 5A state championship meets will be held simultaneously at North Carolina A&T State University this coming Friday. Events will start at 10 a.m.
Sports editor's note: Corrections were made to this article to update the wildcard state qualifiers. Corrections made on May 5, 2026, at 2204 hours.
