The Tigers took to the track in their opening meet of the season in a quad meet against local high schools Buffalo Gap, Parry McCluer, and host Riverheads High School. Coming out roaring, the Tigers were able to take early control of the meet through the field events to go on to win by 34 points over the other schools.
Hargrave -104 points
Riverheads – 70 points
Buffalo Gap – 47 points
Parry McCluer – 23 points
The Tigers took both the long jump and triple jumps, led by senior Elyas Harris (Las Vegas, NV) with jumps of 19 feet and 3 inches and 37 feet and 8 inches respectively. Fellow senior Mark Billups (Charlotte,NC) finished second in long jump of 18 feet 11 inches and junior Brian Williams (Washington, DC) took fifth place with a jump of 17 feet 4 inches.
Junior Reggie McKinney (Montgomery Village, MD) would take first place in the high jump of 5 feet 6 inches and Williams would finish fourth with a jump of 4 feet and 10 inches. McKinney was in the top scores for the Tigers as they he placed fourth in shot put with a throw of 38 feet; third place in long jump with a jump of 36 feet and 4 inches.
In discus, seniors Jordan Dunn (Charlotte, NC) and Cameron Spangler (Wilmington, NC) finished 3rd and 5th respectively with throws of 111 feet and 3 inches and 103 feet and 7 inches. “I was very pleased to the fast start we got off too,” said Head Coach Jeremy Eubank. “Our captains have done a tremendous job of setting the tone at practice and that has carried over to this first meet in our how kids have competed.”
That momentum carried over to the running events Thursday night, in the sprints as the Tigers took second (Billups – 11.90 seconds) and fourth (junior Paul Hughes Danville, VA – 12.10 seconds) in the 100 meters respectively. In the 200 meters, senior Chris Gray (Seattle, WA) and Paul Hughes took second (25.90 seconds) and third (26.10 seconds) respectively.
Gray would continue his success to another second place finish in the 400 meters followed by fellow newcomer senior Thaddeus Alexis (Hartford, CT) in third place (57.20 seconds). In the 800 meters, Gabe Powers (Roswell, GA) took second place (2:31 minutes) senior Jesse Vogg took fourth place (2:39 minutes) to place for the Tigers.
In both long distance events, 1600 meters and 3200 meters sophomore Tyler Morris (Morrisville, NC) took second place with times of 5:20 minutes in the 1600 and 11:35 minutes in the 3200 meters. Others that placed in the 1600 meters were freshmen Gabe Medlin (Chatham, VA) in 3rd place (5:29 minutes) and fellow freshman Shiff Helvey (Winston-Salem, NC) who finished fourth (5:37 minutes). In the 3200 meters, Helvey finished third (11:52 minutes) and Medlin finished fifth (13 minutes) to score for the Tigers. Griffith went on to take another fifth place finish in the 300 hurdles with a time of 54.30 seconds.
Both hurdle events, 110 and 300 hurdles, Williams swept the events finishing first with times of 18.10 seconds (a full second and half of second place) and 47.60 seconds. In the 110 Hurdles, first time hurdlers Alex Velazquez (Miami, FL) and junior Quinn Griffith (Lee, NH) took fourth (20.40 seconds) and fifth (20.90 seconds) respectively.
In the relays the Tigers took the 4 x 100 relay (Williams, Billups, McKinney, Richard Jiang) with a time of 47.80 seconds, second in the 4×800 relay (Vogg, Vale, Powers, Morris), and third in the 4×400 relay (Al Tell, Vale, Alexis, Gray) to round out the meet.
“I was very pleased with our results and times of the entire team,” stated Eubank. “We have a total of 44 athletes that came out, and for many of them it was their first meet. It was good to see that that the work and effort they put in prior paid off which will build on their confidence and times going forward.”
The Tigers next meet will be Tuesday, April 10 at VES where they will face VES, New Covenant and Blue Ridge School in a VIC conference meet. Meet time starts at 4 PM.
