Connelly Springs – It had already been a good day at the long jump for Andrews freshman Kylie Donaldson.
After setting a new personal best with a jump of 15 feet, 11 inches at the Smoky Mountain Conference championships, she broke 16 feet for the first time at the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1A West Regional championships at East Burke High School 10 days later.
That jump of 16 feet, 1 inch, would have put her through to this weekend’s 1A state championships, but Donaldson saved her best for last. However, she had to wait a little first.
There’s no time limit on long jump, so the athletes can get mentally set and start their sprint to takeoff when ready. Donaldson started to sprint up to the line for her final jump, but was told to stop and start over when the coach watching the check mark wasn’t paying attention.
The redo didn’t stop Donaldson, as she set a new personal-best jump of 16 feet, 5.5 inches, breaking Andrews’ record in the event in the process. She’ll jump again at next week’s state championship at N.C. A&T in Greensboro after finishing third, as the top-four finishers in each event qualify.
“I was thrilled,” Donaldson said. “I was so happy. I was just overwhelmed with emotions.”
Donaldson’s school record was one of the many high marks at the event for Cherokee County athletes. Andrews senior Kaylin Ellis was regional champion in the 100-meter hurdles in a personal-best time of 16.36 seconds.
Fellow senior Mackenzie Stalcup qualified for the state meet by finishing third in the girls’ high jump (4’8”, while junior Isaac Weaver punched his ticket to Greensboro by finishing fourth in the boys long jump (20’9.5”). The Lady Wildcats finished tied sixth in the region, one point ahead of Murphy.
The Bulldogs’ boys team finished fourth, while the girls team finished eighth. Murphy had three regional champions, as senior Hunter Laney took first in the boys high jump (6’2”), junior Jersey Schwalm won the girls discus throw (95’10”) and sophomore Jordan Oliver won the wheelchair shot put (8’1”), discus (18’8”) and 100-meter dash (43.93).
Murphy senior Juan Allen qualified for the state meet by finishing second in the boys long jump (21’5”) and 110-meter hurdles (15.90) and was the anchor leg on two qualifying relays.
He teamed up with
Will Johnson, Cameron Grooms and Austin Woody to finish second in the 4x200-meter relay (1:32.96), then Johnson, Grooms and Hunter Stalcup to finish third in the 4x100-meter relay (45.86).
Grooms finished fourth in the boys 400-meter dash (51.25), while Murphy senior Faith Ann Revis qualified for states by finishing third in the girls’ triple jump (33’1.5).
While Tri-County Early College didn’t have any state qualifiers, they did break four school records. Senior Will Crayton broke the school record in the boys 800-meter run (2:14.86), while their boys 4x200 (1:44.40), 4x400 (3:47.39) and 4x800-meter relay teams (9:10.71) were also the fastest in school history.