Black Knights sophomore captures individual state track championship
Greensboro – It took just 16.35 seconds for Brock Adams to etch his name into the record books.
At Friday’s 1A state track meet, Adams crossed the finish line of the boys 110-meter hurdles in first place, edging out North Rowan’s Tsion Delaney by just .10 of a second. A sophomore, Adams became the first Black Knight to win the 110-meter state championship since Ty Gibbs in 2003.
In fact, Gibbs helped coach Adams along on his trek to a state crown this year.
“This is crazy. I worked on this all week: me and Ty,” Adams said. “I focused on it, and I told him that I thought I had a chance. He told me, ‘If you get low between the hurdles and run, you’ve got it.’ “
Adams also competed in two other events: the 300-meter hurdles (fourth place, 42.54) and the high jump (5 feet, 8 inches; 11th place). With two more years of varsity track and field in front of him, the versatile athlete has plenty of time to make the necessary improvements to spurn further success.
“I’m not fast enough to be in the 100 (meter), and I’m not a distance runner. My lungs just aren’t in it,” Adams said. “But if you combine hurdles with a 100, that’s about medium distance. That’s about what I can cover.
“When my cousin, Trey Jones, went to App(alachian State University), I used to go to meets all the time, and we would run the hurdles. I just fell in love with it and have loved it since.”
“Today was a huge accomplishment for Brock,” Robbinsville track coach Stuart Nelms added. “The fact that he is only a sophomore makes it very exciting to see what the next couple of years hold.”
Field of nine
In addition to Adams, eight other Knights competed at the meet.
Zoie Shuler found herself visiting the awards podium frequently. The freshman finished second in both the triple (35 feet, 8 inches) and long (17 feet, 5 ½ inches) jumps – tying with Mountain Island Charter’s Zahra Bichara in the latter – and placing fourth in the 100-meter dash, with a time of 12.55.
Shuler later combined forces with Lina Pagan, Caylin Lunsford and Kensley Phillips in the 4x200 relay, with the quartet crossing the finish line in 1:51.90, good for fourth. Haize Moore later tagged in for Shuler in the 4x100 – which finished with an 11th-place time of 55.16 – while Keylie Jordan switched out with Phillips in the 4x400 relay (12th place, 4:47.60).
Phillips also competed in the triple jump (11th place, 14 feet, 9 inches), while Hayden Stewart (11:20.48) had the same finish in the boys 3,200-meter run. Freshman Cutler Adams rounded out Robbinsville’s trip to N.C. A&T University with a 14th-place time of 11.93 in the 100-meter dash.
Pagan was the only Robbinsville senior to compete at state.
“Overall, we are all super proud of all of the state qualifiers; they had a very big day,” Nelms said. “Our future is bright. We were very young this year.
“I also want to give a shoutout to the entire team this year – especially the seniors – for sticking with it, even after they had graduated.”
Swain County won the girls state championship (78 points) and the boys’ title went to Mountain Island Charter (91.5).