Bryson City – The indoor track season is officially underway after teams from western North Carolina headed to Swain County for the first meet of the season.
Swain hosted their first of four meets this season with the Swain County Polar 1 track meet on Nov. 20. Andrews was the only high school from Cherokee County to attend, with six athletes competing in the meet.
AJ Johnson had the highest finish on the team at the first meet at third place in the long jump. Johnson also finished 12th in the 55-meter dash at 7.54 seconds, while Isaac Patrick finished sixth with a time of 7.1 seconds.
Three Wildcats competed in the shot put. William Wood finished sixth, Logan Patrick came in 12th and Ayden Reeves came 13th. Wood’s throw measured 36 feet 11 inches, Patrick’s was 30 feet 1 inch and Reeves’ was 29 feet 9 inches.
Electa Ledford competed in girls high jump and finished in fifth place. Her high jump was 4 foot 4 inches.
Other Smoky Mountain Conference teams competing in the meet were Cherokee, Robbinsville and Swain.
Cherokee had three first-place finishes. The Braves’ girls 4x200m and 4x800m relay teams came in first place. Ogana Swimmer also came in first place in the boys 3.200-meter – or 2-mile – run.
Swimmer came in the top three at almost every cross-country race in the fall, so his strong performances in the distance events will carry over to the indoor track season.
Robbinsville also had three indoor track athletes finish first in their respective events. Colton McCoy came in first place in the long jump, plus second in the triple jump and 500m dash. On the girls side, Claire Barlow came in first in the long jump and triple jump.
Swain secured 10 first-place finishes in the Maroon Devils’ first home meet of the season.
Kaden Sawyer came in first in the 55m dash, Ross Clapsaddle came in first in the 1,000-meter run and Carl Baird came in first in the 1,600 meters – 1 mile. The boys 4x200m relay team also came in first.
On the girls side for Swain, Annie Lewis came in first in the 1,000m run, Arizona Blankenship came in first in the 1,600m run and Julianna Meraz-Quijada came in first in the 3,200m.
In the field events, Gracie Sutton came in first in the high jump, Alden Thomas came in first in pole vault and Samantha Woodard came in first in shot put.
The other teams that competed in the meet were Enka, Franklin, Pisgah, Smoky Mountain, Tuscola and Shining Rock Classical Academy.
The Andrews indoor track team, as well as other teams from western North Carolina, will head to Robbinsville today for the second meet of the indoor track season.