7 may 2005
the stentorian I ncssm
NCSSM Track Team Finishes Third at States
Lance Harden
T he NCSSM Men’s
Track Team concluded
their record-breaking
season with the best finish in
school history since moving
from the North Carolina High
School Athletic Association’s
(NCHSAA) 1A Division to the
North Carolina Independent
Schools Athletic Association’s
(NCISAA) 3A Division. With
a team score of 78 points, the
Unicorns finished third in the
State Meet last weekend
behind TISAC-champion
Ravenscroft (109) and the
hosts from Charlotte Country
Day (90).
The firm, rubberized sur
face at Charlotte Country Day
produced many fast times dur
ing the course of the two-day
meet, as the Unis shattered two
ishing fourth in a season-best
time of 8:32.06. Every mem
ber of the team ran their per
sonal-best 800-meter time in
the race, and the total time was
over twelve seconds faster
than their performance at the
conference meet. Later in the
evening, Wolpert and Harden
competed in the finals of the
3200-meter run. After leading
the race for the opening laps,
Wolpert latched onto the heels
of the leaders to finish third in
a school-record time of
9:45.60, bettering his personal
record (PR) time by nearly 15
seconds. Harden also placed
in the event, finishing fourth in
a season-best time of 9:55.45,
a significant improvement
from the 10:11.7 that he ran to
win the conference meet.
On Saturday, the Unis
continued their success in the
May Liu
Jody Brown-Harkey runs for NCSSM in the relay competition.
finals of the field events. Josh
Judkins placed fifth in the dis
cus with a personal-best heave
of 115 feet and 5 inches. The
week before, he was the run
ner-up in the conference meet
with a throw of 106 feet and
4.5 inches. Meanwhile, on the
runway, Isaac “Mr.
Everything” Owolabi jumped
39 feet and 7 inches to finish
seventh in the triple jump.
While this mark was slightly
shorter than the jump that gave
school records and came with
in a second of breaking four
more. Coupled with the two
school records set at the
TISAC Conference Meet last
week, the NCSSM Men’s
Track Team has established
four new sehool records this
season.
The 4 X 800-meter relay
team of Luke Lankford, Lance
Harden, Kyle Wolpert, and
Nick Cook set the tone in the
first race of the day Friday, fin
NCSSM’s Track Team will lose its current senior members next season.
him second place at the con
ference meet, it still earned
two all-important team points
for NCSSM.
Owolabi quickly
redeemed himself in the finals
of the 110-meter high hurdles,
the first running event of
Saturday’s meet. He ran a PR
of 14.91 seconds to win the
event and defeat his long-time
nemesis Ben Jenkins of
Ravenscroft. Jenkins beat
Owolabi in the high hurdles at'
the conference meet in a con
troversial race that saw
Owolabi fall in the first 30
meters. Owolabi’s wiiming
time was within a hundredth of
a second of the school record.
About forty minutes after
NCSSM won its first state
championship of the day, the 4
X 200-meter relay team of
Dean Fox, Daniel Watford,
Marsalis Smith, and Mark
Reidy set out to defend its
state crown of 2004. Both Fox
and Watford were members of
the 2004 team that won last
year’s raee in a school-record
time from the slow heat. After
a valiant effort, the team fin
ished third in 1:34.10, four-
hundredths of a second off the
previous meet record and half
a second faster than their
school-record time from a year
ago.
,... Two, more .school records
were in jeopardy during the
1600-meter run and 4 x 100-
meter relay that followed the 4
X 200-meter relay. Wolpert ran
a 4:30.62 in the 1600, a PR by
more than 7 seconds, for fifth
place, coming within a second
of M. Cunningham’s 1993
time of 4:29. Moments later,
the 4 X 100 team of Owolabi,
Smith, Watford, and Fox fin
ished third in 44.75, achingly
close to their school-record
time of 44.57 that they ran to
finish second in the conference
meet.
Only forty minutes after
running on the relay team,
Owolabi was back on the track
in his attempt to win a second
state championship, the 4 x
100 team of Owolabi, Smith,
Watford, and Fox finished
third in 44.75, achingly close
to their
school-record
time of 44.57
that they ran
to finish sec
ond in the
conferenee
m e e t . i p .
Again facing
the formida
ble Jenkins,
Owolabi led
the 300-meter
intermediate
hurdles wire-
to-wire, win
ning in a time
of 39.68.
This time was
May Liu slightly slow
i"? 1 -
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May Liu
Isaac Owolabi jumps towards his
er than the sehool-record 39.20
that Owolabi ran to win the
conference meet. That mark
stands as the fourth-fastest
time in the state of NC, regard
less of classification (public
schools included), this year.
Owolabi’s second hurdles
victory gave the team score
another 10 points, and the Unis
now had an opportunity to do
something special. Just before
the men’s 4 x 400-meter relay
last victory at NCSSM.
teams.
The NCSSM team con
trolled their fate as much as
possible by finishing first in
the slow heat in a time of
3:38.74. This was the Unis
fastest time of the year by over
8 seconds, and it came within a
second of breaking the school
record, held by the 1997 relay
team which included Coaeh
Aryano Bush. The entire team
watched anxiously as the
Unicorns sprint to the finish line.
team of Derrell Vann, Wolpert,
Reidy, and Cook came onto
the track for the last event of
the meet, the stadium
announcer revealed that the
Unis were in third place with
73 points, but they were close
ly followed by the Chargers of
Providence Day (70) and the
Furies of Forsyth Country Day
(65.5). The Furies came into
the final race with the fastest
seed time and the title of
defending champs in the event.
The NCSSM coaehes and ath
letes speculated that the Uni
relay team needed to finish
sixth or better in order to earn
three points and ensure their
third-place finish overall.
However, the Unis were run
ning in the first, slower heat
and wouldn’t have the head-
to-head competition of the best
May Liu
Furies predictably won the
second and final heat of the
relay. When the announcer
read off the top 6 times
moments later starting with the
winners, the Unis held their
breath in hopeful anticipation.
Fortunately, NCSSM’s time
stood up for fourth place over
all in the event, giving the
Unis just enough points to fin
ish third as a team.
NCSSM had many other
individuals place (finishing in
the top eight and therefore
scoring team points) in the
meet. They include: Alan
Walker (eighth, 110-meter
hurdles). Fox (fifth, 100-meter
dash). Harden (seventh, 1600-
meter run). Cook (fifth, 400-
meter dash), Vann (eighth,
400-meter dash), and Reidy
(sixth, 200-meter dash).