Lady Knights compete at state meet
Winston-Salem – A pair of Lady Knights traveled to the middle of the state Saturday to compete in the 1A/2A state indoor track meet.
The event – held at the JDL Fast Track – featured Caylin Lunsford competing in both the long and triple-jump events, while Anna Riddle sprinted her way through the 500-meter dash.
“I’m very, very proud of both Anna and Caylin’s performance,” Robbinsville head coach Stuart Nelms said. “Just qualifying for the indoor state championships is in itself a huge accomplishment, and having to compete with the 2A schools in the same meet makes the qualification standards even more difficult to reach.”
Lunsford was the only Smoky Mountain Conference athlete to compete in the long jump, and if not for Murphy’s Trinity Garrett would have been the division’s lone competitor in the triple jump. Her 20th-place leap of 14 feet, 2 inches was sixth among the 1A field, while her 21st-place distance of 31 feet, 7 inches was fourth in class 1A.
“I realize that good outcomes are achieved through motivation and hard work, so I gave it my best shot this year,” Lunsford said. “It’s different when we get out-of-conference and when we have to compete against the 2A schools. It was a good experience, but definitely different.”
Meanwhile, Riddle dashed her way to a 10th-place time of 1:25.48, which was sixth in the 1A competition. Her finish also set a new school record in the 500-meter dash.
“I’m happy with my performance,” Riddle said. “I was ahead just about the whole way, so I didn’t feel the competition that much. I knew I had to give it everything I had to finish first in my heat, then wait and see what happened in the other heats.”
“Both girls put in a lot of hard work this winter to get here,” Nelms added. “But they weren’t satisfied with just being here; they both performed well enough to place higher in their events than their state rankings, to exceed or tie personal records and to break one school record in the process. It was a very positive day for us.”
Prepared for spring
The work put in by Robbinsville’s indoor track team this season will no doubt pay dividends in outdoor track. The Knights held their first outdoor practice Tuesday.
“Indoor track gives the kids an extreme head start on the outdoor season,” Nelms said.
“For those indoor participants, conditioning and technique at the beginning of the outdoor season will be more like what it would normally be at mid-season, had they not participated in indoor track.”
Lunsford and Riddle echoed the sentiments.
“Some days, the weather was freezing with a lot of wind; tough conditions, but you just go out there and do it anyway,” Riddle said. “This is the first time I have been able to really concentrate on indoor and it has really gotten me in shape for outdoor.”
“The winter weather can definitely be a factor sometimes,” Lunsford added.
“But on the other hand, our team was too small to have relay teams, so it was more of an individual thing, which gave me more time to concentrate on jumping.”