400 meters, 4 segments: 1 record obliterated

I’ve often called the 4x400 relay the “most exciting five minutes in sports.” 

Maybe it is because after three-plus hours, the competition draws a track meet to a close.

Maybe it is because it comes after the single-longest track event of the day: the 2-mile run. Eight laps of endurance eat up a 30-minute segment of the afternoon, conveniently placed before a meet’s thrilling conclusion. It’s almost as if the creators of modern-day track and field order of events were in a sour mood that day and wanted everyone to feel their temporary pain for years to come.

But I digress.

The current stock of athletes passing through Robbinsville High School is perhaps the most gifted ever available for a four-year stint. Institutional track records that stood for years – in some cases, decades – have crumbled under the Knights’ might. (Second digression: my rhyme game is lame. Moving on.)

To be precise, 20 school benchmarks have been erased between indoor and outdoor track since 2021.

Did I mention that there are some studs in the stable?

The Jan. 11 “indoor” (spoiler: it’s only indoor for state – dress warm) meet at Swain County saw five records fall. Head coach Kaitlyn Carringer-Adams held one of those very standards from her time as a Lady Knight – you guessed it, as a member of the 4x400 team from the 2015-16 season.

Joining her in the record book (really, a handy Google doc that Adams updates as frequently as necessary) were Ashlyn Waldroup, Meghan Myler and Shawnda Martin. Their 6 ½-year record of 4:45.20 fell to the wayside when Adams dealt out the assignment to the tandem of Zoie Shuler, Katie-Lyn Gross, Kensley Phillips and Delaney Brooms.

Here’s the funny thing about sports: sometimes, success can be both unusual and unpredictable. The fearsome foursome are all names familiar to the faithful Lady Knights fanbase, but only Brooms had ever ran the 4x400.

Shuler had already competed in three events (you can max out at four) and had little time to gather her thoughts after spending a large chunk of time setting a new personal record – and, of course, school standard – in the high jump. She is atop the 1A rankings in both the long and triple jumps, a set of events she won a pair of state outdoor championships in during her sophomore season, as well as a long-jump indoor crown.

But she has never ran the 4x400.

A freshman, Gross is always willing to do whatever is asked of her (her assignment Jan. 11 came as a complete shock; she had to borrow coach Adams’ cleats, in what has to be the most disproportionate trade of all-time, given their height differences). Gross has competed in the shorter-distance races (200- and 300-meter dashes).

But she has never ran the 4x400.

The only senior of the lineup, Phillips has practically competed in every sport available in Graham County while growing up – and excelled at each. If the school had ever launched a water-polo team, Phillips would have immediately been coined the “all-rounder” (look it up). She has gritted her way through a laundry list of dings, scrapes, bruises, hip and back problems, and is a member of the school’s 4x100 relay outdoor record, as well as the 4x200 indoor and outdoor thresholds.

But she has never ran the 4x400.

Then there’s Brooms. Another cyborg who had to be manufactured in a lab, Brooms is a top-notch volleyball player. Her spikes accelerate into the opponent’s territory at speeds not detectable by mortal radar, coming off a vertical leap that defies gravity. Her indoor-track endeavors include pole vault and the 4x200.

And because she has ran the 4x400 in the past, she was assigned the ever-important final (anchor) leg.

As legendary Robbinsville track coach Ronny Carringer (he still helps the team to this day) so astutely put it, moments before the collaboration was summoned to the starting line: “Girls, I don’t ask much of you, but just do the best you can.”

Not the best ra-ra speech I’ve ever heard, but that is my final digression.

The team was frozen. The spectators in the stands were frozen. The flagpole at the first curve of the track was nearing a chill-level of “A Christmas Story” status, but no one had to triple-double dog dare the Lady Knights to break the school record.

They just did. Easily. By 10.32 seconds. The handoffs were seamless. The dead sprints around the track appeared to be four gazelles, not four teenagers. They didn’t think anything of it – no pressure, just complete the task at-hand.

Afterward, Brooms approached the former storied coach. “Did we do good enough, Ronny?”

He couldn’t help but grin. “I think you did fine, girls.”

Kevin Hensley is the publisher/editor of The Graham Star. After watching highly-trained, completely-fit athletes spend all evening pushing themselves to the limits at a track meet, he is still disappointed that a certain eating establishment in Bryson City was inexplicably closed at 8 p.m. after the event, which speaks volumes about the state of his conditioning.