A SportsWeek
Also More Stories, Religion and Classifieds February 25, 2016
TRACK
Indoor track could serve as prelude for spring
BY CRAIG T. GREENLEE
FOR THE CHRONICLE
This year's state indoor track and field
championships are history. So, now is a
good time to take a retrospective look at
what transpired. In doing so, we can get
some insight on what might be in store for
the upcoming outdoor season.
McKinley McNeill of Parkland is a
good starting point. The newly-crowned
state indoor champ at 500 meters is poised
to launch an assault on the state record in
the open 400.
Keep in mind that not only is McNeill
the defending state 400 champ, but she's
just .25 seconds shy of erasing the current
mark of 54.07 seconds set by Sanura Eley
O'Reilly of Fayetteville Britt in 2009.
Setting a new record is a reachable
goal for McNeill, who ran a personal best
of 53.40 in the New Balance Outdoor
Nationals last June. But in order to own a
new state record, McNeill must eclipse
Eley-O'Reilly's time at the state champi
onships in May.
McNeill, who has signed with North
Carolina, got off to a late start with her
training this season. She delayed the start
of training in order to make multiple
recruiting visits to several schools that
were eager to sign her. Once she's com
pletely fit, it seems that only injury or
complacency would prevent her from
entering the record books.
Parkland girls:
As for the Mustangs as a team, they
aren't likely to win a third straight team
title. But they are deep enough and skilled
enough to score enough points to finish
among the top three. At the indoor champi
onships, they fell short of that goal, and
ended up fourth in the final team stand
ings.
The sprint relays are key events for
Parkland and this spring will be no differ
ent. The foursome of Jahnae Bowman,
Shanone Cannon, Kimani Davis and
Zjinaiya Francis barely missed out on a
See Spring on B2
MM
Parkland quarter-miler
JV BASKETBALL
No doubt, East Forsyth
is the clear-cut
BY CRAIG T. GREENLEE
FOR THECHRONICLE * ;
Coach Rodney Minor
Photos by Craig T. Gre4itee
Tanis Samuels delivered
timely shooting in the
Eagles' season-ending
victory over Northwest
Guilford.
East Forsyth needed every bit of resolve it could
muster in beating Northwest Guilford in its JV basketball
season finale two weeks ago. The Eagles found a way to
hold steady in the closing seconds to take a 67-66 victory.
With the win, they claimed sole possession of first place
in the Piedmont Triad 4-A Conference.
That wasn't the only bonus, though. East Forsyth fin
ished up with a 19-2 record overall, which is the best
among their JV counterparts in Forsyth County.
In other words, the soaring Eagles are the undisputed
kings in the county for this season.
Aside from orchestrating an inspired run in winning
the Lash-Chronicle JV tournament in December, East
Forsyth (9-1 in the PTC) dominated all year. The only
other county school that could've challenged the Eagles
was Mount Tabor, which ended its season at 18-3. This is
the second year in a row that East Forsyth has finished
first in its conference.
At the junior varsity level, there are no officially-rec
ognized conference champions. In this case, it's a mythi
cal championship for the first-place finishers.
See No.l on B2
New faces making big contributions
for Rams women's track I
BY CRAIG T. GREENLEE
FOR THE CHRONICLE
Winning back-to-back conference
titles is never easy, regardless of how
much experience is on a team's roster.
In those situations where champi
onships are won with a lot of new
faces, the degree of difficulty to
achieve victory is multiplied.
That's the case for Winston
Salem State's women's track pro
gram, which claimed another team
title at the CIAA Indoor Track and
Field Championships last week. Yes,
there were key returnees on hand to
help lead the way. Domtila Kiplagat,
voted CIAA women's MVP for the
meet, set the tone by winning the mile
plus the 3 XXX)-meter run and she
anchored WSSU's victorious
Distance Medley Relay.
Even so, the contributions of five
freshmen made a huge difference as
the champion Rams edged second
place
Johnson C.
Smith 120
110 in the
points race
for the tro
nhv
"Obviously the team did extreme
ly well, and it happened with a lot of
help from our freshman," said Turner.
"It was such a blessing for this team
to pull themselves through to win this
championship. It wasn't an easy one
(to win)."
Entering the indoor season, it
wasn't clear how Turner might find a
way to replace the talent and leader
ship of nine seniors who graduated.
In most cases, getting a handle on
how freshmen will handle college
level competition can be tricky. Other
than putting them to the competitive
test, there's no way to know for sure.
In this instance, the college rook
ies - Sh'Naiya Chapman, Jenele
Terry, Halvandra McNeill and
Aaliyah Craft (Walkertown graduate)
- made their presence felt.
"I've won seven championships
here and this one is very special," said
See New Facet on B2
Craft
Terry