In their season opening meet, the Hargrave Tigers Track squad traveled to Wilmington, North Carolina to compete in the Cape Fear Christian Academy Invitational. The Tigers earned second in the event and started the spring season off on the right foot!
Hargrave’s Track was, for lack of a better word, fortunate that they were able to compete for a couple of meets during the Spring 2020 season before the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down. According to Head Coach Jeremy Eubank, “It was tough to deal with the abrupt end to our season last Spring because we had a great group of guys that were poised to compete for a VIC Championship.” However, this new group, which features strong returners such as Darius Hankins ’21 (Willard, NC), Nathan Higdon ’21 (Cairo, GA), Wesley Marquardt ’21 (Charlotte, NC), and CJ Farmer ’22 (Danville, VA) looked to pick up right where they left off last Spring.
As a team, Hargrave put together a strong showing in their season opener, despite the long travel to Wilmington, North Carolina, and should be proud of their efforts. Specifically for Hankins, his performance in the 100 Meter Dash (10.96 seconds) was a school record-breaking performances. Even more impressive, Hankins did this from a standing start! Also, newcomer Patrick Doyle ’21 (Raleigh, NC), broke a school record of his own when he ran 46.26 seconds in the 300 Meter Hurdles! “Outstanding performance by both of these guys,” stated Eubank. “Darius has been an incredible competitor for us for years, so he really deserves this record. Patrick has been working hard this spring and he’s shown consistent improvement worthy of setting a new school record in his first meet!”
Team Scores:
1st — Coastal Christian High School (213.50)
2nd — Hargrave Military Academy (163.50)
3rd — Fayetteville Academy (29)
4th-Cape Fear Academy (21)
Notable Individual Performances Included:
100 M — Darius Hankins (1st)
200 M — Darius Hankins (1st), Nasir Coles ’22 [Danville, VA] (3rd)
400 M — Chidubem Anyanwu ’23 [Raleigh, NC] (4th)
1600 M — Wesley Marquardt (3rd), Jay Thompson ’21 [Chatham, VA] (4th), Jacob Miller ’24 [Fayetteville, NC] (5th)
3200 M — Wesley Marquardt (2nd), Jay Thompson (3rd), Jacob Miller (4th), Bohong Yang ’22 [Beijing, CHINA] (5th)
300 M Hurdles — Patrick Doyle (1st), Gage Crisp ’21 [Maryville, TN] (4th), Barney Li ’21 [Beijing, CHINA] (5th)
4 x 800 Relay — 2nd
Long Jump — Darius Hankins (1st)
Shot Put — CJ Farmer (1st), Mason Rucker ’22 [Matthews, NC] (3rd), Malachi Jackson ’23 [Danville, VA] (4th)
Discus — CJ Farmer (1st), Mason Rucker (4th), Malachi Jackson (5th)
