Photo Credit: Hannah Phillips. A shot of the 3A Mideast Regional, hosted by Northern Guilford High School.[/caption]The NCHSAA 3A Mideast Regional could have gone better for the Panthers that qualified, as some of the six athletes had remarkable performances, and the others leaving with the desire to have a redo. Two Panther athletes achieved the ultimate goal of the meet: qualification for the NCHSAA 3A State Championship.
Freshman Adalyn Fleming and sophomore Montee Mitchell have qualified in the 800m and the 110m hurdles, respectively. Fleming ran her PR (personal record) by over five seconds, an incredible accomplishment in the 800m. The freshman rising star finished in 2:24.87, taking the bronze medal by finishing third. Fleming missed regional runner-up by less than a second, while also becoming the first freshman to place in the top three in the 800m at this regional since 2003, an unbelievable feat. Adalyn also ran the 1600m, finishing seventh in 5:46.
As for Mitchell, the meet’s Performance of the Day winner, the sophomore was actually entered into the meet due to consideration (the process of selecting additional athletes other than the ones who did not meet the qualification mark). Mitchell, different from the hundreds of athletes, coaches, and spectators watching, had an ambition to not only participate, but to show out and prove that he belonged there. The sophomore was seeded thirteenth out of the fourteen entered athletes. In the prelims of the 110m hurdles, Montee took over a half a second off of is PR, finishing sixth in 16.23. The top eight finishers in the prelims qualify for the finals, meaning Mitchell was only one great race away from state qualification. Later in the day, when it was time for the 110 meter hurdle final, the sophomore was ready. Mitchell took almost another quarter of a second of his PR, finishing in 16.02. In his fourth-place finish in the finals (top four qualify), he officially made the state championship. Mitchell was the only non-senior in the top five, and will be facing his toughest competition at states.
Six other Panther athletes competed at this regional meet. Fleming’s partner-in-crime, fellow freshman Claire Barger, ran the 1600m and the 3200m. Barger just missed state qualification herself, finishing fifth in the 1600m. Her 3200m performance was a minor disappointment, with the freshman running well off her PR. The last student-athlete that rounds out the star freshman milers trio here at Orange is Julianna Lester, who actually ended up running the 1600m, despite her running in a local 5k race earlier in the morning. Lester was the second overall female in the 5k, but it was not her best performance in the 1600m. Lester finished in 6:02, 11 seconds off her PR. It was a pretty solid performance for Lester as a whole on the day.
Two other Orange girls competed, junior Morgan Efland and senior De’ja Johnson. Efland finished fifth in the prelims of the 100m hurdles, and eventually ran a 17.49 en route to a sixth-place regional finish. In what was the last Orange High School athletic competition for Johnson, the senior triple jumped almost a whopping two feet farther than her previous PR, leaping her way to a sixth-place finish at 34’2.5”.
In a very unfortunate sequence of events shortly before this regional championship, the more than likely team MVP, senior Brandon Vanhook, sustained two serious injuries in his knees. His ambition for a regional championship pushed him to participate. Shortly before departing to get to Northern Guilford, the site of regionals, Vanhook’s spikes broke. With the combination of replacement shoes and a somewhat crippling injury, the senior leader could not pull of a miracle. In what was thought to be Orange’s greatest chance for a regional champion, Vanhook in the long jump, was an unfortunate disappointment, but adequate considering the circumstances. The senior jumped just under 20’, almost two feet under his PR, finishing sixth. If Brandon would have jumped his PR, he would have won by over a foot. One great performance emerged from Vanhook, however. He ran his PR in the 100m prelims (11.19), in an eighth-place finish. This, unexpectedly, put Vanhook in the 100m championship. Vanhook ran a 12.01 in the finals in another eighth-place finish.
The last Panther who participated was another underclassman, freshman Joseph Pannachia. Pannachia ran alongside Mitchell in the 110m hurdles, and ran his PR by .7 seconds. Pannachia missed finals qualification by two spots, running a 16.91 in a solid tenth-place finish.
Congratulations to our Panther track team for a very successful regional meet! Adalyn Fleming and Montee Mitchell will advance to the NCHSAA 3A State Championship meet, which will be this Friday, May 16 at NC A&T’s Irwin Belk Track. We wish Fleming and Mitchell best of luck at the highest level of competition in the state!
0 comments