Hannah Styles
hstyles@thesmokymountaintimes.com
On Wednesday, Dec. 1, Swain County High School indoor track teams competed against three teams at the Robbinsville Polar Bear. Both Swain boys and girls teams had several first-place finishes.
In the 55-meter dash for the boys team, Landon Matz finished first, Gavin Roland third, Jackson Pittard fifth, and Hunter Cochran in seventh, followed by the 300-meter dash where Landon Matz took first, Kane Jones in third, and 500 meter dash where Kane Jones took first, Gavin Roland second, and Jackson Pittard fourth.
More Swain top three places for Swain in the 1,000-meter run with Connor Lambert in first, Jaxon McClung in second, and Abhi Patel in third. Matthew Gray was first in triple jump and Brendan Lanning second in 55-meter hurdles. In the 4x800-meter relay the Devils were second.
Swain has started the indoor track season off to a good start with some runners already qualifying for state in the first two meets.
“Both our boys and girls’ teams have won both meets that they have ran and we’ve had several runners already qualify for state, with the points they’ve earned in these first couple meets,” Coach Payne said.
Lady Devils
The girls finished second in a 4x200 meter relay. In the 300-meter dash, Amelia Rogers took third, in the 500-meter dash Amaya Hicks was first, and Katie Simonds third.
In the 1,000-meter run, Gracie Monteith came in first and Emily Ulaner got third. In the 1,600 and 3,200 meter runs Arizona Blankenship took first.
“We had a good meet, we competed against Robbinsville, Murphy, and Cherokee which are the only teams in our conference for indoor track right now. These two past runs have been called “polar bear runs” because they’re outside but this Saturday we will compete at JDL Fast Track in Winston Salem and it is a completely indoor track with a different slope, so this will be a change for our runners,” Coach Keith Payne said.
On Wednesday, the Devils traveled back to Murphy for another meet, but some competitors didn’t run in the meet because they are preparing for this Saturday. Those who have qualified will travel to Winston Salem, for the Stay in Your Lane High School Invitational.