Women's Track and Field
2A Western Regional Runner-up 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006
Conference Champions 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
Most Outstanding Track: Felisha Garren
Most Outstanding Field: Jill Ayscue
Most Improved: Jessica Stewart
Coach's Award: Jeni Norman
Ana Acosta, Kate Kmieciak, Michele Dills, Felisha Garren
Four school records were broken by the Knights as they powered their way to a fifth place finish at the 2A State Meet on May 20 at North Carolina A&T. Burlington Cummings easily took first with 73 points, followed by Cardinal Gibbons (62). Cedar Ridge was third (46) and West Henderson (38) was fourth place, just three points ahead of the Knights (35).
North was led by the STATE CHAMPION 4x400 team of Ana, Kate, Dills and Fe, who came into the meet as the number one seed. Durham School of the Arts ran a 4:15.39 in the first heat to set the bar high for heat 2. Ana ran a strong opening leg and all the teams were close after the first leg. North was near the back after Kate broke from the three turn stagger, but she made a move to pass a few teams and stay with the top 4 teams as the field was spreading out. Dills took the stick in 4th place and, much to the delight of the announcer, quickly moved to the front on the back stretch. Cardinal Gibbons and Cedar Ridge hung close were able to make a pass heading into the final exchange. Fe took the baton in 3rd place, about 7 or 8 meters behind Gibbons, who was in the lead. She moved into first on the back stetch and pulled away heading into the home stretch for North's first Women's Track championship in five years. Their time of 4:09.32 lowered the school record they set at the regional meet the previous week by almost 2 seconds!
Fe also ran a school record 58.30 in the preliminaries of the 400m Dash to advance into the finals and her 58.11 in the finals was good enough for 2nd in the state. The school record before today was Fe's 60.02 in this year's regional meet.
The 4x800 team of Ana, Stormy, Stew and Kate ran a new season and school best for 2nd in the state. Cardinal Gibbon's winning time broke the old 2A State Record held by Brevard. North's 9:58.74 was outstanding considering that their best time before State was 10:12.18. They broke the old school record by 7 seconds.
Morgan McMinn also had a strong showing at her first state meet. She broke her own school record with a best throw of 106' 10" to finish 5th in the discus.
The 4x200 of Chavez, Freeman, Dills and Fe ran a season best (1:48.96) to finish 6th in the state.
Jill Ayscue was 8th with a vault of 8' 00" and Christina Storm finished 8th with a time of 5:44.13 in the 1600m Run and Sarah Willingham placed 9th in the 3200.
State Runner-up (photo courtesy of Citizen-Times)
It was a great day for a track meet. The competition was good and the weather was very cooperative. Thank you to Appalachian State and Coach John Weaver for their help in running this meet. Their facilities are great and their staff very helpful and supportive.
West Henderson won both the Men's and Women's Championships. North Henderson finished second among the Women and Starmount was the Men's runner-up. The only meet record broken was by Lindsay Pate (West Henderson) in the Discus. Double Champions in individual events included: West Henderson's Allison Ruhe (1600 & 3200), Morgan Peterson of Mt. Heritage (100M Hurdles and 300M Hurdles), and Brevard's Frankie Waters (110M Hurdles and 200M Dash).
North Henderson girls were led by Felisha Garren's school record day in the 400 (60.02 in Prelims, 60.30 in Finals) where she got second. The 4x400 (Ana, Kate, Dills, Fe) also set a new school record (4:11.19) in the day's most exciting event and were Regional Champions! The 4x800 (10:12.18) of Ana, Stormy, Stew and Kate finished as Regional Runner-up. Other State Qualifiers include: Jill Ayscue (3rd - PV), Morgan McMinn (3rd - Discus), Stormy (3rd - 1600), Thrilla (4th 3200), 4x200 (Chavez, Freeman, Dills, Fe) - 3rd. In addition, Javan Lapp led the boys by winning the 800 and the boys 4x400 got 3rd to advance to the state meet.
Photo courtesy of Patrick Sullivan/Times News
Heang Uy and Audra Faulkner
